Family Values
by Caitd-85
Summary: Set in Harrys 5th year at Hogwarts , Harry discovers some little known secrets that will change his life forever
1. The Letter

***Disclaimer!!!! Unfortunately I don't own Harry Potter, believe me I wish I did, that would be kind of kool!!!! I do however own this plotline and the characters of Tim, Jennifer and Caz who you will meet later on. It is fairly safe to say that if you don't recognise something then it is mine but don't hold me to that.***  
  
Before I start, thanx to my sister for proof reading this for me. She might be quite a bit younger than me but she's still good at spotting mistakes.  
  
So Without further ado, I give you.....  
  
Chapter one: -- The letter  
  
Harry sat in his room and peered through the window into the dark and dreary night sky, he was scouring the skyline when he spotted what he was looking for, a grey shadow loomed ever closer to his window of number four privet drive. As his snowy owl Hedwig made a dive for his bedroom window Harry stood back, allowing the owl to enter the room. Hedwig fluttered down onto Harry's bed and held out her leg for Harry to extract a note from her leg.  
  
Harry wasted no time in untying the note and reading it, desperate for any news from the wizarding world. He had been home from school now for a little over a month. His birthday had been and gone with no mention what so ever from his family although all his friends and Sirius and Remus had sent him presents. Although he wouldn't admit it to anyone he was feeling quite low.  
  
The events of the triwizard tournament coupled with Voldemort's return had just knocked it all out of Harry and the way the Dursleys were behaving towards him, although no different to the usual Dursley behaviour was, was the final nail in the coffin so to speak. Harry really couldn't wait to get out of here.  
  
Finally Harry got inside the note, **could there be anymore string around it?!** He wondered to himself. The note read:--  
  
Dear Harry,  
  
How are you doing? How are the Dursleys treating you? Nicely I hope, if not then boy will they have one mad godfather to contend with!! And if they're still around when Sirius is through with them then I'm sure there'll be plenty more people forming a queue behind him! I suppose you're wondering why I am writing to you. Well I thought that for once I would check in on you; make a nice change for you. How was your birthday incidentally, I hope you liked the presents we sent you, neither Sirius nor I were really sure what to get you. I suppose I do have an ulterior motive for writing to you Harry. I know you don't like it with the Dursleys but please promise me you'll stay with them all summer this year. At this time we can't risk you running off. No one wants to see you get hurt, I only say this because I care, I feel an obligation to your parents to look after you and besides I honestly don't want to see you ending up the same way as them. Promise me as well that you'll be wary of strangers and carry your wand with you at all times, I know you aren't supposed to but wouldn't you rather break a couple of rules than end up trying to duel a dark wizard without the use of a wand (I think I already know the answer to that question, you certainly take after your father when it comes to rule breaking!!) Well I have to go now, Sirius and I are on a mission for Dumbledore at current, if you need us Hedwig will be able to find us, she's an extremely intelligent owl.  
  
Love, Remus  
  
Harry finished reading the note and sat there for a second staring into space before he noticed the PS at the end of the note. He scanned it quickly;  
  
PS. I have taken the liberty of getting you a daily prophet subscription for you. One edition every day from now until September. I thought it might help you keep up with events although as yet the ministry are refusing to acknowledge you-know-who's return. Keep in touch, Remus.  
  
Well at least that's one thing thought Harry, he'd been considering taking out a subscription to the daily prophet since school finished.  
  
Harry yawned. For the first time that night he realised how tired he was. He folded up the letter, placed it under his bed in his small cubby under the loose floorboard, took of his glasses, curled up under the duvet and fell into a deep sleep. 


	2. Tim Elddir

DISCLAIMER:-- As before anything you recognise does not belong to me. Enjoy your reading.  
  
Chapter Two: -- Tim Elddir  
  
The next morning Harry awoke late. For a few seconds he was back at Hogwarts and wondered why Ron hadn't woken him but all too quickly he remembered that he in fact wasn't at Hogwarts and he still had another three and a half weeks of the summer left. Then it dawned on him; the worst was yet to come, for today Dudley's friend from smeltings arrived to spend the rest of the summer with the Dursleys. Harry had been dreading it ever since he found out it was happening two weeks ago however he'd been hoping that if he forgot about it for long enough then maybe it wouldn't happen. Then Harry remembered Remus' letter. To prolong the agony of going downstairs he decided to reply to that now while the Dursleys still thought he was sleeping. He crossed to his dresser, took a sheaf of parchment and a quill and scrawled Remus a reply;  
  
Dear Remus,  
  
Harry wrote;  
  
I'm doing fine thank you. How are you? The Dursleys and I aren't having much to do with each other at the moment; I've found staying out of their way preferable to confrontation. Dudley's friend is coming to stay today which gives me a doubly good reason to stay out of the way, especially if he's as bad as Dudley!  
  
I understand your not wanting me to leave here but if I promise to go straight to the Weasley's if it comes to it wouldn't that be ok, I'm sure I'd be safe there. I wouldn't talk to anyone I didn't know anyway but I promise not to talk to a sole, wizarding or otherwise if I don't know them. Of course I will carry my wand with me, I rarely go out anyway but if I do I assure you it will be clutched in my hand, inside my pocket at all times.  
  
I had a great birthday thank you, Ron and Hermione made a surprise visit and the three of us spent the day down by the river having fun and playing pranks on Dudley and his friends who were there as well. Thank you very much for the present you sent me, it was perfect, I really like it although I really didn't expect anything.  
  
Thank you as well for the daily prophet subscription, I've been considering getting one for a while now, you saved me a job.  
  
I'd better go now and meet Dudley's friend, I think his name is Tim something or other, from the sound I'd say he is already here,  
  
Say hi to Sirius for me and I'll see you both soon, Love Harry  
  
With the letter done Harry decided it was time to face the music so he packed away his quill and tied the letter to Hedwig's leg. As Hedwig flew out of the window Harry turned and headed towards the stairs.  
  
As soon as Harry walked into the kitchen he wished he hadn't bothered. Sat around the table were his aunt, uncle, cousin, and a fourth person Harry presumed was Dudley's friend. The boy was dressed in black from head to toe and his dark hair looked to Harry just like Professor Snape's. The boy wore an evil smirk on his face and there was an air of familiarity to him that Harry was uncomfortable with and yet could not dismiss.  
  
"Don't stare boy!" snapped Uncle Vernon, "how many times have I told you that it is rude to stare!"  
  
Harry didn't take any notice of his uncle; there was something strange about Dudley's new friend, something that Harry couldn't quite put his finger on.  
  
The boy held out his hand to Harry in what seemed a polite manor;  
  
"Tim Elddir, Dudley's told me a lot about you," he said.  
  
Harry hesitated before taking Tim's hand in greeting. As soon as their hands touched Harry regretted this action, for at the exact moment Harry and Tim's fingers met Harry was reduced to a screaming heap on the floor. 


	3. The midnight visitor

Chapter Three:-- The midnight visitor  
  
By the time Harry awoke darkness had once again descended over number four Privet Drive. Slowly it all came back to Harry. Dudley's friend. Harry's scar. The searing pain which coursed through him as their hands met. But why? That had only ever happened before when Voldemort had been near Harry or plotting against someone. Why would Dudley's muggle friend make Harry's scar so painful. Slowly a theory formed in Harry's head but he dismissed it immediately. It was ludicrous how could he even think such a thing. At that point he was jogged back into reality by a voice coming from the corner of his room;  
  
"Harry you must come with me, its important Harry, we need to leave now!"  
  
Harry looked around for the owner of the voice. They were female, he could tell that much, and she sounded panicked. But Remus had made him promise not to leave the Dursleys and this was one promise that Harry intended to keep.  
  
"Harry please, we must leave now!"  
  
There it was again.  
  
"Who are you?" Harry demanded of the voice, "What do you want with me?"  
  
A girl stepped out of the shadows into the light. She looked about the same age as Harry and had long brown hair that reminded Harry very much of the photos he had seen of his aunt petunia as a child. Her face was rounded and her eyes were a similar shade of green to Harry's, perhaps a little lighter. Harry looked at her for a matter of seconds before she spoke again;  
  
"Please Harry, don't ask questions now, everything will be explained to you soon enough. We must leave now before the rest of your family wake up; you are in grave danger if you stay here Harry please come now."  
  
"I can't." stated Harry matter-o-factly. "I promised Sirius and Remus I wouldn't leave here and I don't intend to any time soon."  
  
As far as Harry was concerned that was it. End of discussion. The girl obviously realised that because she sighed as he said it then looked at him;  
  
"If that's the way you want it Harry. I'll see you soon" With that she was gone.  
  
Harry was left dazed and confused. He scrawled a quick note to Padfoot and Moony, clambered into bed, and returned to a deep sleep. 


	4. The Escape

Disclaimer:-- The characters don't belong to me but this storyline does, yada yada, etc etc.  
  
Chapter Four - The Escape  
  
The next morning Harry awoke to Hedwig pecking at his window in an attempt to get in. His immediate thought was to roll over and go back to sleep but all too quickly the events of the previous night came to him and he realised that Hedwig would have a reply from Sirius and Remus. He crossed to the window and Hedwig flew through it dropping a letter onto Harry's bed as she flew over it. Harry picked up the letter and read it;  
  
Dear Harry, I understand that last night must have been a shock to you, I realise now that we went about things the wrong way (***what is he on about***) I will be over later to explain to you properly (***he's coming here?!***) see you soon, Sirius  
  
Harry re-read the letter wondering what the heck was going on.  
  
Sirius must be fairly close to here, Harry thought, how else would he reply so quickly??? What on earth is going on? I don't understand.  
  
'Right, I think we need to talk.' Harry was bumped back into reality by a voice from by his wardrobe which he recognised instantaneously  
  
'Sirius!!'  
  
'And Remus Harry, don't forget him or he'll start sulking again.'  
  
Sirius and Remus stepped out of the shadows enveloping Harry into a bear hug as they did so. To an outsider it would have seemed strange, a strapping fifteen year old boy like Harry who was hugging Sirius and Remus as though there was no tomorrow but it was so rare for the three of them to be in one place at once that none of them cared.  
  
'What's going on you two?' Harry suddenly became serious.  
  
'Ah yes Harry, well, ummmmmm, there's no easy way to say this but, ummmmmm..'  
  
Remus cut Sirius off ' Harry, we need to get you away from here and we need to do it today, the visitor you had last night was sent by us, there's no time to explain now but I promise we'll tell you as soon as we are away from here.'  
  
Harry caught the urgency in Remus' voice. It was unusual for him to talk like this and Harry knew it, Remus was not one for panicking unduly and it worried Harry to hear him panic so much now. He glanced at Sirius who offered him just a nod of encouragement. Harry sighed.  
  
'Well I guess I'd better pack then.' Inside he was ecstatic. He was leaving privet drive and was going to spend the rest of the summer with his godfather, his true family, someone that really loved him for who he was.  
  
'You pack Harry, we just need a quick word with your aunt and uncle, come and tell us when you are ready to go' Sirius gave Harry his instructions before walking out of the door.  
  
'One more thing Harry, only pack the bare essentials anything that you aren't likely to need don't bring it. Try to leave your room looking like you are still living here but you've just gone away ok?' Remus followed Sirius through the door and left Harry to his packing.  
  
30 minutes later Harry was done packing. He'd packed all his school books, quills, parchment and broom. He'd also packed some clothes. He'd left his robes in the wardrobe. He needed new ones anyway as he'd had a growth spurt recently and they were now several inches too short for him. He lanced around his room, did a quick check that he hadn't forgotten anything important and dragged his trunk out onto the landing then proceeded to take it downstairs.  
  
The sound at sight that met him at the bottom of the stairs was certainly something to be seen. From his position at the bottom of the stairs he could clearly see a look of sheer terror on his Aunt's face. As he peered around the doorframe into the lounge room he could see why. Dudley was hanging from the ceiling by his feet, with no apparent strings holding him up. Vernon was in the process of belching slugs, something Harry had only seen once before when a hex Ron had tried to put on Malfoy had backfired. Dudley's friend was stood I the door way to the kitchen looking on with what seemed a rather bored look on his face which surprised Harry, If he had never seen magic done before he would have been terrified. Something didn't add up. Harry had to laugh as he sauntered into the room; Remus looked at him and winked,  
  
'It's amazing what your godfather can do when you give him a wand Harry. Are you done packing?'  
  
Harry nodded, 'Where are we going?'  
  
'We'll tell you when we get there Harry.' Said Sirius having put Dudley back down and removed the hex from Vernon  
  
'I always knew you were no good Black.' Stated Vernon icily, 'the day I met you and your good for nothing friends at that weirdo wedding of his (Vernon pointed at Harry) parents, I knew you'd amount to nothing. And I was right.'  
  
'WHAT?!?! Yelled Harry. You knew about Sirius and you never told me!!!! How could you?! All these years you just let me think that no one cared about me and all the time you knew that I had a godfather who cared!'  
  
'Harry, calm down.' Sirius placed a comforting hand on Harry's shoulder, 'it's not their fault Harry. I was in azkaban, even if you had known about me it would have made no difference. You would have at best have thought I didn't care and at worst believed that I killed your parents. In a way it was best this way because you heard my version of what happened, the true version, not some jumped up media version that wouldn't know the facts it they pinched it on the nose!'  
  
'Come on, it's time we were leaving. Harry say goodbye.'  
  
Harry turned and waved farewell to the Dursleys the last time all the time feeling hatred in the pit of his stomach and hoping upon all hope that he would never have to see them again. Then he followed Sirius and Remus out side, but not before Sirius transformed into a big black dog, scaring the Dursleys half to death in the process. Harry took one last look at his privet drive; he wouldn't miss it, not really. It was sad really, he had lived here for the past fifteen years yet it had never been his home.  
  
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a/n: come on, review, review, review!!!! I want to know someone's actually reading this or I'm going to give up writing it. It really is true that reviews are what keeps writers writing! Give me ideas and stuff, I'll be glad to accept some pointers. 


	5. Godric's Hollow

Disclaimer:-- not my characters etc etc etc.  
  
Chapter Five - Godric's Hollow  
  
They Travelled all through that day and a little into the night. Eventually they arrived at a small cottage on the outskirts of a tiny hamlet in the middle of nowhere. Sirius looked at Harry with a broad grin on his face,  
  
"Welcome home Harry"  
  
"Home?" Harry questioned, "What do you mean?"  
  
"Harry, welcome to Godric's Hollow, this was your parents house Harry. The place in which you were born and in which you lived the first year of your life. From now on, this is your home. You live here with us, me and Sirius and a couple of others who stay here too." Remus cut in.  
  
"Really?!" Harry's expression was one of disbelief and awe, "But I thought this place was destroyed the night my parents were killed. What happened?"  
  
"Harry," Sirius said soothingly, "It has been a long day for all of us. Right now we all need rest. In the morning you can ask all the questions in the world and we have a lot to tell you, but now you need to sleep."  
  
With that Sirius and Remus took Harry inside. Once through the front door they parted. Remus entered a small door to his right, carefully shielding Harry from whatever was inside, Sirius led Harry upstairs and into a small room with a bed inside it.  
  
"You sleep here Harry. We'll see you in the morning, just come into the kitchen when you come down" with that he slowly pulled the door too and left Harry to sleep.  
  
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The next morning Harry woke feeling rather disorientated. His immediate reaction was to panic. He had absolutely no idea where he was but ever so slowly the events of the past twenty-four hours returned to him and he smiled as he remembered where he was and who he was with. He swung his legs of the edge of the bed and slowly stood up. He dressed quickly in his clothes that he had neatly folded and hung over the end of the bed the night before and then practically skipped downstairs to the kitchen.  
  
When he reached the kitchen door he stopped. He could hear voices inside the room and something, although he wasn't sure what, made him decided that he shouldn't make himself known to be up and about yet. He could fairly clearly make out the voices and although he distinctly recognised the voices of Sirius and Remus he couldn't place the three other voices he heard. He decided to do what he would have done had he been at school with Ron and Hermione; he stood and eavesdropped on the people in the kitchen;  
  
"Look, he's here now. Why don't we just tell him everything and be done with it. What's that saying? 'The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth'?"  
  
"Yes but in this case I really don't think that is such a good idea Jen (***So one of them is called Jen then***) I mean sure Harry is a strong kid and he could probably take anything we could throw at him right now but.. well its just that he's had so much to cope with in the past few months what with the triwizard tournament and everything that came along with that, I just think it would be far better for him if we waited until we are sure this will work one hundred per cent before we tell him what we are doing"  
  
"Yes Siri but don't you think that it would be good for him to have some hope to cling onto, a hope that everything will turn out alright and that he can be a normal kid again with a normal family"  
  
"Normal, Abbi, is something that will never happen for him. Even if our plans succeed it will not make his life normal, it might give him back part of normality in returning something which he has not had for the past fourteen years but it can never return fully what he has missed out on in all that time."  
  
"Personally I agree with Uncle Sirius. Harry could probably cope with it but what is the point in building up his hopes if we aren't completely sure this is going to work"  
  
"Caz sweetie, this will work, I promise. Before you know it everyone will be where they are supposed to be, with the people they are supposed to be with, Sirius can stop hiding and you can have a proper family for the first time in your life. Just like Harry.'  
  
"I know Uncle Remus; it's just that, well what if something goes wrong in all this. It would only take the slightest slip up and we are all dead."  
  
"Yes and if that does happen then it isn't the end of the world it is - no pun intended mind - but if we die what happens, we meet up with all our friends and family who have preceded us there and live, so to speak, happily ever after, there really is no draw back to any of this, either it works and we live happily, or it fails to work and we die happily, nothing more, nothing less."  
  
Harry felt at this point it was time to make his presence known. He had learnt so much in that few minutes of eavesdropping though, he was unaware whether they would actually tell him what all this plotting was although he deeply wanted to know and he got the feeling it was something which would affect him immensely although none of them had been giving much away. He took in a deep breath, pushed the door open and entered the kitchen.  
  
On his entry into the kitchen the five who sat around the table went silent. Harry took this opportunity to take in who was there. There were Sirius and Remus of course and then there were three women, none of whom Harry recognised. The first sat to Remus' left. She was tall and had long blonde hair which flowed to her waist and her crystal blue eyes sparkled in the artificial light of the room. She looked to Harry as if she were in her mid to late twenties, perhaps a little older and her closeness to Remus told Harry that perhaps Remus was not the bachelor Harry assumed him to be. On Remus' right was Sirius and then to the far right of the group was another woman, whom Harry noticed immediately looked rather like the pictures he had seen of his mother. She had long auburn hair which was not quite as long as the first woman's and she had emerald green eyes much like Harry's own. She smiled when she saw Harry and Harry saw on her face a grin that could melt hearts as cold as even professor Snape's. Finally between this woman and Sirius sat a girl whom Harry thought was probably about his age although he decided that estimation was most definitely out as he had never seen her at Hogwarts and he decided it was most unlikely that she attended another wizarding school. This girl's hair was shorter than the other two, only coming down her shoulder and was light brown in colour and her eyes were a greenish grey. She reminded Harry somewhat of photos he had seen of his parents and their friends as children although he couldn't quite place it.  
  
"So sleepy head, finally decided to drag yourself out of bed then?" questioned Remus.  
  
"Yeah after all it's only 12:15 Harry, cripes you're worse than I am and that is definitely an accomplishment" Sirius added his comments to the conversation.  
  
Harry just grinned. He wasn't going to tell them he'd been stood at the door for ten minutes listening to there conversation,  
  
"So you gonna tell me whop these other people are or are you just going to make me guess then?" asked Harry with a grin on his face, "and then I remember something being said about you answering all my questions..."  
  
"Yes Harry and all that will come into the story we are going to tell you. You should sit down because this may take quite a while...."  
  
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a/n well these chapters are getting progressively longer and hopefully chapter 6 will be longer still. I'm trying to give you stuff to think about in all this and as my ideas as to where all this is going keep getting modified every 5 minutes I can see this ending up as a rather long story with rather a lot of twists and the end being a surprise even to me!! As for suspense, give me a chance, there'll be some soon, promise!!! 


	6. A VERY long tale

Disclaimer:-- yeah yeah yeah you know the score  
  
Chapter six - A VERY long tale  
  
Harry sat at the kitchen table looking at the five in front of him. He wished they'd just get on and tell him what they had to say but they insisted that he ate breakfast first. He had decided it would be quickest to oblige and ate quickly. Within five minutes his plate was empty and he looked expectantly towards Sirius and Remus.  
  
'Ok Harry. I get the picture; you want to know what is going on. Well I guess the story really starts 17 years ago....'  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
'It was 1986. The year after we all graduated from Hogwarts. All of us were 19 years old and it seemed we had our whole lives before us. Remus, James, Abbi (he indicated the woman next to Remus), Jen (indicating the woman nearest him), Lilly and I had all gone into the ministry. James, Lilly and I were working as aurors. It was a busy time, what with you-know- who at the height of his power and all. Remus was in the department for protection of magical creatures and Jen and Abbi were both in the department of magical law enforcement. Anyhow I digress. The date for your parents wedding was all set and we were all looking forward to it immensely I was the best man and Jen was the chief bridesmaid with Abbi as the second. Well the day of the wedding came around. The ceremony was wonderful Harry, it was all so beautiful. Lily's parents insisted that it be done the muggle way but it was still perfect. The only hiccup was when Petunia and Vernon showed up pissed and started mouthing off about wizarding freaks but they took on the wrong people. Imagine the consequences of them doing that in a room full of fully grown witches and wizards (Harry grinned) anyway it got to the speeches at the reception and Lily decided she wanted to say something and that was when James found out he was going to be a daddy. You could argue it was mean of her to tell him in front of all those people but he took it well. You could see in his eyes how proud he was. Over the next 6 months a lot of time was spent preparing and waiting for young Harry Potter to be born but when the day came around it wasn't just one baby that was born.'  
  
Harry looked puzzled. He didn't have a twin, what was Sirius on about,  
  
'Harry, I was your mum's best friend, I'm Sirius' twin sister Jennifer, although that doesn't have much to do with anything yet. When Lily was pregnant with you, I suffered just as much as she did, morning sickness, weight gain the lot, we all just put it down to a sympathy pregnancy, my best friend was going through it so I did too. It never occurred to anyone that perhaps I was pregnant as well, why would it. I entertained the thought briefly but dismissed it, more because I didn't want it to be true than anything. None the less on July 30th 1987 30 minutes after your mum went into labour I did too, that was a shock to everyone. We were both in labour all night and in the early hours of the next morning from a private room on the maternity ward of St. Mungos hospital, could the screams of two very healthy little babies be heard. Catherine Gabrielle Black and Harry James Potter. The first of the children of the marauders.  
  
'But I thought that the marauders were just Sirius, Remus, Dad and Pettigrew.' Interjected Harry, 'Does that mean...'  
  
'No Harry, the founders of the marauders were just the four of us but in our 6th year at Hogwarts we realised girls could prank with the best of them. Lily, Jen and Abbi became honorary marauders, the seven of us were closer than anything, for quite a while we were inseparable, it infuriated the professors. They decided something needed doing though when Sirius and your dad were given detention for setting fire to Snape's pants during potions and all seven of us turned up. They ended up pulling a dirty trick on us; said if we all wanted detention then we could all have one. We ended up spread out across the whole castle, kind of stopped being so clingy after that.'  
  
'So how come Catherine doesn't come to Hogwarts then?'  
  
'Harry please call me Caz, everyone else does. I don't come to Hogwarts because no one would accept me there. Mum teaches me at home with uncle Sirius and uncle Remus' help, I probably learn more that way than I would at school'  
  
'What do you mean no one would accept you there, course they would'  
  
'No Harry, they more than likely wouldn't, not if they found out about my whole parentage. You know who my mother is and that's fine, but what you don't know is who my father is and anyone finding out that at Hogwarts would probably never speak to me or trust me again.'  
  
Harry realised that was the furthest he was going to get on that subject for now so decided to let then continue.  
  
'Well Harry. The first few months of your life were just like any normal kids. Then when you were 7 months old it happened. I wont go into detail you know what happened but after you-know-who had been destroyed I turned up. I'd had an urgent message from James telling me there was a problem. NOTHING could have prepared me for what I saw though, and you just sat there in the rubble gurgling. Dumbledore showed up then and told me he'd take you. I was in shock, didn't have a clue what was going on so I just handed you over, simple as that, then I left, three weeks later I was in azkaban.'  
  
Harry sat there quietly. He was listening intently but he couldn't see where this was going too, what were they getting at?  
  
'Anyway Harry, that's the background information to this story done. Before we tell you anymore I need to introduce you to someone; Abbi;'  
  
Harry looked at the young woman next to Remus. She smiled at him kindly before pointing her wand at herself;  
  
'Ageus increasus' she muttered. Slowly she aged and in a few seconds she looked like,  
  
'MRS FIGG!!' Harry nearly fell off his stool in surprise in front of him was the old woman who had been his child minder since he was knee high to a grass hopper. Now he thought about she had always been nicer to him than anyone else when he was younger  
  
'Hello Harry.' She looked at him, 'don't be surprised. The ministry wanted someone to watch you while you grew up, keep an eye on you and make sure nothing happened and so I naturally volunteered. I was the only one of us in a position to do so. I'll tell you it took some self restraint not to kill your aunt on the spot, some of the things she used to say to me about you. I'm just glad we finally got you out of there.'  
  
'Well Harry, now back to the story. When all of us were in our 7th year at Hogwarts we found something very interesting. We just happened to be looking at some books in the restricted section of the library - just one of the advantages of being friends with both the head boy and the head girl - the librarian let us get away with anything. Anyway we came across a spell to bring people back from the dead.'  
  
Harry looked puzzled. Where they saying what he thought they were saying? Then another thought struck him.  
  
'Is that the spell Pettigrew used to bring back Voldemort?'  
  
'It's a variation of it Harry.' Replied Jen. 'The spell that was used on Voldemort was more complex than this one for one reason. It gave him a much higher level of defence. It'll take more to destroy him now that he has been bought back in that particular way. However I think you can see what we are getting at. If it works then and only then we will work on protecting the people involved.'  
  
'You really think we can bring my parents back to life?!'  
  
Harry was reeling from this new information. It was better than he could ever have hoped. Him and his parents reunited. And if his mum and dad were back then they could testify that Sirius was innocent, that Pettigrew had been the secret keeper. Everything would be as it should be.  
  
The look on Harry's face told them all they needed to know;  
  
'So you'll help us with it then Harry?'  
  
Harry was puzzled. Here was a group of full grown wizards asking for his help with a spell why would they need him? As if reading his mind Abbi continued;  
  
'Harry. If you remember in the spell they used to revive Voldemort needed three things. Bone of the father, flesh of the servant and blood of the enemy,' Harry flinched remembering the night when the potion had been made. He hadn't dreamt about it for a while now but he still remembered the awful nightmares that had plagued him for weeks. 'Well this potion is slightly different and much MUCH pleasanter. It too requires three things; a nail clipping from the best friend - we've got that covered, a possession of the person you wish to bring back and finally a hair from the firstborn - that is where you come in.'  
  
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2 hours later the entire plan had been explained to Harry. He felt much better for knowing what was going to happen, the only part he didn't like was the fact that all of this couldn't take place until he'd gone back to school as the base of the potion wouldn't be ready until the beginning of October. Still, he thought, for the first time he would be able to go home to his family for Christmas.  
  
The mood of the conversation lightened and before too long Sirius was giving everyone a wonderful account of the time that he and James had bewitched Snape's wand to shoot out the words 'The Marauders are my role models and I'm not ashamed to say it, so I stand up proud and shout out loud, MARAUDERS, I LOVE YOU BUCKETS!!!!!!'  
  
"Ah yes. I remember that one well. If I remember rightly no one was ever caught for that." They were all laughing so loud that none of them heard their visitor enter the room.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore!" Harry exclaimed, "what are you doing here?!"  
  
"Hello Harry. I just stopped by to find out where you got to actually. You've caused quite a stir at the ministry. They noticed magical activity at the Dursleys yesterday and when they checked up on it you were gone."  
  
"Ah yes professor," Remus interrupted, "I'm afraid Sirius and I will have to take the rap for that. We, well, umm perhaps I could talk to you in private for a moment." Remus looked meaningfully at Dumbledore who nodded his head. He and Remus left the room. As soon as they ad gone Harry looked at Sirius accusingly,  
  
"Why do I get the feeling there is something you are not telling me?!"  
  
At that moment an owl flew through the window of the kitchen. It swooped around before landing on the table in front of Harry. In its beak was a newspaper. Harry had forgotten his daily prophet subscription but he took the paper from the bird's beak as he remembered why it was there. Callously he flipped the paper open but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw on the front page....  
  
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a/n so now we start with the suspense. This plot is changing more often than the channel on my TV (which happens roughly every five minutes - WHAT? I have a short attention span!!)This is the fourth draft of this chapter!! I know I promised I'd say who Tim was but that was one thing that got changed. You'll meet him again later though, that I am certain of. 


	7. A Shock to the System

A/N: finally another chapter. Sorry it took so long but I've been doing battle with mock exams and friends with family crises. If it's any consolation chapter 8 is well on its way and with any luck will be out by the weekend.  
  
Disclaimer: If you recognise it then it aint mine!  
  
So without further ado, I give you...  
  
Chapter seven - A shock to the system  
  
Harry sat and stared at the front page of the daily prophet. This could not be happening. He'd just keep telling himself that. How on earth could this happen to him?  
  
Caz saw the look of shock and disbelief on his face;  
  
"What is it Harry?" She asked him, "Something wrong?"  
  
Harry couldn't summon the words to answer her. Instead he just slid the news paper across the table for her to see herself. She looked down at the paper and read;  
  
~~~~  
  
Family of Muggles Killed in Death Eater Attack  
  
A family of muggles have been found dead this morning in what is reported to have been highly suspicious circumstances. Although the muggle authorities have declared that the three victims died of natural causes, closer inspection by a medi-wizard has revealed the possibility that it was in fact the Avada Kedavara curse that was the cause of death. It will come as a blow to wizards everywhere to find that the muggles in question are none other that Mr and Mrs V Dursley and their young son Dudley Dursley of Surrey England. It was this family that took in young Harry potter when he defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort as a baby 14 years ago in the attack which left him orphaned. This latest development leaves young Harry with no one and one question to be addressed is what happens to him now? The whereabouts of young Harry are at current unknown. He is due to return to Hogwarts for his fifth year in two weeks time however the question is, is Harry safe? The minister for magic Mr Cornelius Fudge refused to comment however he is reported to be taking a length of time of work to relieve himself from the stress of the job, in his absence Alfie Englebury will be assuming the position of Locum Minister. However, rumours are abound that you-know-who is rising and with this, attacks by death eaters, the dark mark appearing all over and with Sirius Black still on the run it is a wonder anyone in the wizarding world is still safe to leave their homes. Something needs doing by the ministry and fast, but what? Unless something drastic happens a major fear among most wizarding folk is the harsh reality that at this rate it is only a matter of time before you-know-who succeeds in his bid for power.  
  
~~~~  
  
"Oh, Harry!" It was all Caz could find to say, she knew Harry hated his aunt and uncle but she could tell from the look on his face that he was still very distressed by this latest development.  
  
Sirius snatched the paper from Caz's grasp. He read only the first few paragraphs but it was enough. He looked at Harry with a mix of emotions on his face;  
  
"Harry. I don't know what to say, are you ok?"  
  
What Harry did next shocked everyone. He flew to his feet in a fit of sudden rage.  
  
"Will you all STOP it!!? I don't need this right now!!"  
  
With that Harry disappeared out of the door way and up the stairs.  
  
As he left they all sat there exchanging worried glances with each other. No one knew quite what to do, should someone go after him? Who? Their questions were halted for a minute when Dumbledore and Remus re- entered the room,  
  
"What happened? Where's Harry gone?" Remus asked, and then he saw the newspaper on the side board, "Ah."  
  
"Ah being the operative word Remus. Harry isn't exactly in the best state of mind right now, I think he's upstairs working out whether he is supposed to be upset or not." Sirius read the look of worry on his friends face like a book. He'd seen it before many times. "I'll give him a while then go see if he's ok, whether he liked them or not, they were still his family."  
  
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Harry sat on his bed in his room upstairs. He didn't understand. How was he supposed to feel about all of this? Was he supposed to be upset? Angry? Because right now and he knew it was wrong, he felt kind of... relieved. He knew it was wrong to think like that. His aunt and uncle and cousin were dead. But that bit in the back of his mind was telling him how great this actually was. He wouldn't have to go back there and suffer, summer after summer, anymore. There was no way now that Dumbledore could deny him the right to remain with his Godparents after that. He had nowhere else to go. Of course convincing the ministry that Dumbledore had found him somewhere safe would be hard but none the less, he was sure his summers would get better now. Anyway even if Dumbledore didn't ant him to stay with his Godparents, in three months time he would have his parents back.  
  
**KNOCK KNOCK**  
  
He guessed that would probably be Sirius or someone come looking for him, he had kind of stormed out back there but it had just been too much for him. He never had enjoyed people making a fuss all that much although he knew how to milk it for all it was worth, living with Dudley for so long had seen to that.  
  
"Come in!" he yelled through the closed door.  
  
Sirius opened the door and crossed to the bed where Harry sat. he plopped himself on the edge of the bed next to Harry. He could see the look of confusion on his Godsons face. It troubled him to see Harry so worried; it wasn't something that he was used to.  
  
"Harry," he started  
  
Harry looked at him, he knew what was coming, first would be the sympathy, then he would get the questions and after that, the jokes would start. He didn't mind so much that Sirius had come looking for him, he felt he could talk to him at least  
  
"I know Sirius." Harry decided to save Sirius some breath and cut straight in, "I don't want any sympathy; you know we didn't get on. I'm not upset, just, I don't know, confused I guess. Two days ago I knew exactly where I was. My parents were dead and I lived with my aunt and uncle. I might not have had the best home life in the world but at least I knew what was going on. I had some sense of control. Now look at me. I'm hiding out with my godparents who aren't supposed to have me because it isn't safe, I have no family, just the hope that perhaps we can bring my parents back to life but it isn't definite and to top it all off I get the distinct feeling that you expect me to burst into tears around about now and its just not going to happen!" Harry's voice had grown steadily louder as he continued talking. At the end of the outburst he looked straight into Sirius' eyes and did the exact thing he had just sworn he would not do. Harry Potter cried. 


	8. A Long and Lonely Summer

Chapter Eight - A Long and Lonely Summer.  
  
Disclaimer - I don't own Harry potter, blah blah blah, you know the score.  
  
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Sirius and Harry sat for quite some time before Harry stopped crying. Slowly he pulled out of the embrace Sirius had held him in,  
  
"Sorry" he said quietly.  
  
Sirius looked at him in disbelief, "Don't you EVER apologise for crying again young man." He scalded, "you have just as much right as the next person to cry."  
  
Harry looked in to Sirius' eyes. If truth be told he didn't remember having ever cried before that moment and he certainly didn't recall anyone having ever told him he had any rights. He smiled weakly. "Thanks. Now. Is Professor Dumbledore still here?"  
  
***********************  
  
Dumbledore paced the kitchen floor. This certainly was a predicament he had here. The question was what should he do? Would Harry be safe here for the rest of the summer? It wasn't that Dumbledore didn't trust Sirius or the others it was just that so much could go wrong. Voldemort could locate him and attack - without the protection of Hogwarts or his family that would be fatal, or the ministry could locate Sirius and Harry would be hauled in for harbouring him - that definitely couldn't be good either. He was sure Harry would be much safer at Hogwarts. Safer, but would he be as happy? He could see from the look in Harry's eyes that he was happy here, finally surrounded by people who loved him. Dumbledore had no doubt that the Dursley's had loved Harry, in their own special way, but finally Harry was with people he felt happy with. Dumbledore couldn't take him away from that. He knew he couldn't. He turned to Harry;  
  
"Harry. This may not be the brightest thing I've ever done. In fact it may just well be the stupidest thing I've done in my life, but I'm going to let you stay here the remainder of the summer."  
  
Harry exhaled loudly and Sirius squeezed his shoulder,  
  
"There you go, what did I tell you?"  
  
Harry grinned. This summer was shaping up after all. Then he realised that Dumbledore was still speaking,  
  
"...ground rules however."  
  
Harry groaned. Rules. *Oh well, can't have it all ways*  
  
"Number one. You don't leave the house unless someone is with you and even then try to make sure you only leave and return under cover of darkness. Whoever killed your family was after you. I don't want you caught short and alone. Number two. Don't give anyone any trouble will you? I know what you're like for causing trouble, just try and keep a low profile this year please. Finally number three, before I tell you just remember this. These rules are for your own good. If you don't agree to them and stick to them then you will spend the rest of the summer back at Hogwarts under the watchful eye of your professor's understand." He waited for Harry to nod before continuing, "No contact with Mr Weasley and Miss Granger for the duration of the summer." Dumbledore winced on completion of that sentence waiting for the string of verbal abuse to come. After a minute of silence he looked at Harry who was currently doing a rather good impression of a goldfish. He watched in anticipation for a few seconds before Harry finally managed to form a simple sentence;  
  
"W..w..w..what? Why?" Harry finally gasped out.  
  
"Harry." Dumbledore started, "it isn't that I don't trust your friends," Harry visibly relaxed, "It's just that I don't want anything getting intercepted and having someone finding out where you are or who you're with. This situation is a big risk. There's just as much danger from the ministry tracing you as there is from Voldemort. If the ministry find out where you are and come looking for you they find Sirius. And if they find him here then everyone in this house finds themselves in Azkaban. I don't mean to sound harsh but that's how it is. Just stick to the rules and you'll all be fine ok?"  
  
Next Dumbledore turned to the rest of the room, "Now. I've put up some protection spells round this place which should make it safer for you. I've done all I can think of. There's roughly the same ward spells as there is at Hogwarts. You are un-plottable, invisible unless you know what you are looking for, there's a selective anti-apparation barrier -- basically only those who are cleared can come and go - and finally there's these."  
  
Dumbledore handed each of the people in the room a pendant which they all examined with interest.  
  
"Each of those pendants contains some of the most powerful protection spells known to us. Once you've put them on you mustn't take them off as long as you are here. Most of the spells are your general ward spells. Scaled down versions of the protective spells around the house designed to keep the wearer safe but the most important spell on them is a variation of the Fidelius charm."  
  
Each of the people of the room turned their full attention to Dumbledore. None of them particularly trusted that charm anymore. Not after what had happened to Lily and James. They all knew of course that it was the secret keeper that went wrong not the charm but it was still hard to trust something that had already failed you once. Finally it was Jen, who broke the silence,  
  
"What do you mean variation? How is it varied?"  
  
Dumbledore smiled, "Well essentially it does the same job in a different way. It alleviates the need for a secret keeper making it a lot simpler. There is therefore no one to give you away. Also instead of it meaning that no-one can find you it simply makes it that those who intend to cause you pain or suffering in anyway cannot find you. Harry. For that reason when you come back to Hogwarts in September you will need to remove the pendant. You've been in enough feuds with certain students that I fear you would be appearing and disappearing all over the place and we can't have that. I'm sure it would confuse certain Slytherin's no end to see that." Dumbledore winked at Harry who did his best to conceal the laughter. The mental image of the look on Malfoy's face if that should happen was just too much and he couldn't' help giggle at the thought. Dumbledore watched Harry with a small smile to himself before continuing his explanation, "Just make sure none of you take off the pendants until I tell you it is safe to. As soon as the pendant is removed the magic is gone. They are strictly one use only. Be careful with them."  
  
They all looked at their pendants carefully before each placed them round their necks. Harry immediately felt the magic surge through him leaving him with a warm feeling inside as if he was being smothered with hundreds of warm fluffy blankets. Dumbledore turned to Jen and Caz,  
  
"Can I have a quick word with you two before I go?"  
  
They both smiled and followed Dumbledore out of the room. Harry turned to look at Sirius, Remus and Abbi who were all stood to his right. He grinned as he looked at them and for the first time in his 15 years of life he honestly felt as if he had a proper family.  
  
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Ron and Hermione sat out in the meadow at the back of the Weasley's home. Hermione had arrived at the Weasley's the previous week and since her arrival she and Ron had spent an awful lot of time out here in the meadow, just sat in silence thinking about things. Things were changing between the two of them. They both realised that. Ron was increasingly finding himself thinking about Hermione in ways which one should definitely not think about ones best friend. Hermione too found herself looking at Ron in a whole new light. The look he wore on his face if he was in trouble for instance, which she had only six months ago found absolutely infuriating now seemed, well, cute. She just didn't know where all this was coming from!  
  
"Ron,"  
  
"Hermione,"  
  
they both addressed each other at the same time, causing them both to laugh out loud,  
  
"Hermione, I..."  
  
Their potential conversation was interrupted by the appearance of a rather old wizard who apparated right in front of them  
  
Dumbledore smiled. Both his young students appeared to be blushing the colour of beetroots. If truth be told he found it quite sweet that the two were finally realising their feelings towards each other,  
  
"Professor Dumbledore." Hermione greeted him, "what are you doing here?"  
  
"Well Miss Granger. I actually have a message for you and Mr Weasley from Mr Potter." Both of them looked hopeful at this news. They knew that Harry had promised not to leave the Dursley's. They also knew about the attack on privet drive and had been very worried about the lack of contact from Harry. Dumbledore continued, "Harry is perfectly safe." Hermione and Ron both let out a breath that neither knew they had been holding, "however I must ask that neither of you attempt to contact him for the rest of the summer. He is perfectly safe where he is and with whom he is with but it is best that you do not try to contact him and he does not contact you. There are a lot of people looking for him and those he is with and mail coming and going will only put them all in danger. If you need to contact him urgently for some reason then I can pass on a message but that is only in dire emergency understand?"  
  
Dumbledore looked at the two students before him and watched them nod in comprehension. "Good. It is only for three and a half weeks, I'm sure it'll fly and you'll all be back at Hogwarts in no time. Now I have to dash, but remember, no contact." With that Dumbledore vanished with a *poof* leaving Hermione and Ron with a hundred unanswered questions which quite obviously now would have to remain unanswered until September.  
  
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A/N So there we go. Chapter 8. They are getting longer again and finally a storyline is just starting to evolve. Next chapter we are back at Hogwarts, sorry this is taking so long but I'm up to my neck in coursework and queens award project at the moment. I've got an 8000 word project due in 2 days and its only 1500 words long! I've been working on it 10 months already!!!!!!! Anyway half term in 10 days so I should be able to get some writing done then. Hopefully there'll be another chapter in about two week's tops. 


	9. Back to School

Chapter Nine - Back to School  
  
Disclaimer:- I don't own Harry Potter. All I own is the computer I'm writing on and the Characters Caz, Jen and Tim.  
  
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The rest of the summer passed quickly and was certainly different to any previous summer Harry had had. Harry soon learned that living here was very different to living with the Dursley's and it was especially different to when he had stayed with the Weasley's before. One major difference between here and everywhere else was that the wards Dumbledore had put up around the place prevented the detection of magic from outside. This meant that Harry was free to use as much magic as he wanted over the remainder of the summer without the worry of the ministry issuing him with another warning. So it was for this reason that he found himself, along with Caz having extra lessons from the four adults in the house over the final month of the summer. Sirius and Remus joked that when he returned to school he'd be better prepared for the fifth year curriculum than even Hermione; this was a thought that made him laugh. Dumbledore had come to visit in the middle of august, bringing with him two letters. One for Harry as usual and also, to Harry's surprise, one for Caz. Harry was delighted to learn that she would be joining him in the fifth year at the start of September. One thing that surprised Harry immensely was the shiny pin badge enclosed in his school letter which told him that he had been made a Gryffindor prefect. A fact which apparently did not surprise anyone in the least. He also knew, from the list of other prefects included, that Hermione and Malfoy were both prefects too as well as Blaise Zabini.  
  
The rest of the summer for Ron and Hermione was somewhat different. After much awkwardness, deliberation and procrastination they'd finally managed to talk to each other and had, to their great delight, discovered their feelings for each other were mutual. Their only worry now was that Harry would feel pushed out by this new development in their friendship. They hadn't yet told Ron's family about their relationship, deciding to wait until things had developed a little more but on the night before their return to Hogwarts that had changed.  
  
***************  
  
Ron and Hermione sat on Ron's bed. Originally they had just been talking but now they were entwined in each others arms, kissing passionately. This was the furthest they had gone this summer, neither of them wanting to abuse the trust Mr and Mrs Weasley placed in them, especially since they knew nothing about the relationship. Hermione suddenly found Ron's hand sliding up her t-shirt. She froze for half a second before deciding she didn't mind and continued to deepen the kiss. It was at this point that the youngest Weasley had waltzed into the room yelling something about transfiguration textbooks.  
  
She had stopped dead when she caught sight of the scene unfolding before her. Her brother and her best friend were. romantically involved. she definitely did NOT need to be seeing this.  
  
"I think I might come back later, this is obviously a bad time," Ginny said hurriedly before turning to bolt out of the room.  
  
Ron and Hermione froze mid-kiss. Upon seeing Ginny stood in the doorway they sprung apart and sat eyes fixed on Ginny like deer's caught in headlights.  
  
Ron finally found his voice, "Gin, no. Perhaps we should explain. Please just stay and hear us out." It was more of a question than a statement. Ginny turned and looked at them before reluctantly crossing the room and leaning against Ron's chest of drawers.  
  
"Let's hear it then."  
  
Forty-five minutes and a lot of explaining, begging and pleading later Ron and Hermione had finally persuaded Ginny to keep quiet about what she had seen and had also managed to convince her to accept it. The initial shock had died down leaving her somewhat happy that her brother and her friend were both happy and now she thought about it they had spent a lot of the past few weeks whispering in Ron's room and in corners around the house. It didn't really surprise her all that much.  
  
***************  
  
Harry and Caz were both being just as impatient as the other. Dumbledore had not allowed them to ride the Hogwarts express to school, instead insisting that they come to school by direct portkey straight to his office. At the moment they were both waiting impatiently in the living room for Sirius, Abbi, Jen and Remus. Neither could understand why all four adults had to deliver them to Hogwarts, nor why it was taking them so long to get ready when they were only going to be there a matter of minutes but they stood and waited as patiently as possible non the less.  
  
Finally they were all ready to go. They stood together in the kitchen of the place Harry had come to know as home over the past few months. Sirius pulled a tin of baked beans out of his pocked. Harry frowned,  
  
"Baked beans? What, you suddenly hungry Sirius?"  
  
Caz laughed. Over the last month Harry and Caz had quickly become friends and had discovered a deep level of trust between them. Although Caz had not mentioned anymore to Harry about her father than the day he had arrived she was starting to wonder if she could and deeply wanted too. She needed someone to share the truth with. Sirius looked momentarily exasperated at Harry's comment and sighed,  
  
"It's a portkey Harry. Not a snack!"  
  
Harry looked at him.  
  
"I realised that. I was kidding. You know, the thing where you say something and it's supposed to be funny and everybody laughs."  
  
Sirius stuck his tongue out at Harry before holding out the tin for everyone. As they all grabbed hold Harry felt the jerk behind his navel and squeezed his eyes closed trying to block out the memories this was dredging up. As quick as it had started it stopped and Harry opened his eyes to see the 6 of them were now stood in professor Dumbledore's office.  
  
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Platform nine and three-quarters was in its usual September the first state of chaos. People were everywhere. Older students were meeting up with friends and catching up on two months of separation while their parents ran through all the last minute checks of 'did you remember everything' and 'where's your wand'. Younger students on the other hand were going all shy and clingy on their parents. Looking absolutely terrified of leaving for this strange new place and being away from home for so long. It was these parents that weren't bothered about their children having everything but more about getting them on the train before it pulled out of the station. In some cases this involved prying children from their parents forcefully and literally forcing them onto the train. As Ron and Hermione stood and looked around the chaos on the platform Ron leaned and whispered in Hermione's ear,  
  
"I don't remember us ever being that terrified of going to school. What do they think we're going to do? Eat them?"  
  
Hermione laughed at that thought before scalding Ron for being so mean. He gave her a mock glare before continuing his search of the platform for Harry. Deciding they couldn't see Harry anywhere and that they only had one minute before the train left they said goodbye to the Weasley's and boarded the train, hoping that Harry would be waiting for them in their usual compartment. Needless to say. He wasn't.  
  
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A/N:- that took A LOT longer than expected to write, mainly due to the fact that I had a stupid project to do and it got sent back to me three times before I had finally done enough words. Chapter 10 will probably be another couple of weeks because of coursework but after that I'm on study leave and updates will be more regular. Thanx to my reviewers! You're all great! Check out my other story 'What d'ya get..' It's only one chapter long yet but I'm in the process of writing another one which should be out in a few weeks. Katie-Catherine -x- 


	10. Revalations, Reformations etc

Chapter Ten - Revelations, Reformations and a fair bit of controversy.  
  
Disclaimer:- Am I blonde? NO. Am I rich? NO. Am I famous? NO. Am I called Joanne? NO. So do I own this????  
  
A/N: This could be predictable or it could be a total surprise. I don't know, I'm only the writer, personally I don't have a clue how this is going to end up! Whatever happens please r/r!  
  
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Dumbledore rose to his feet upon the arrival of the group in his office. He smiled kindly at them and patiently waited whilst they recovered from their journey. Dumbledore then turned to them and said;  
  
"Welcome. I believe the train has just arrived at the station so perhaps we should make our way downstairs. Mr Potter, Miss Black, if you want to leave your things here I'll see to it that some house-elves take it to your rooms." He then turned to the adults, "You're staying for dinner I trust?"  
  
Harry looked at Dumbledore and noticed a glint in his eye. 'How stupid can you get?! He thought, 'Sirius can't stay and have a meal here! Not with the whole school around! He'd be in azkaban before you could say innocent!' It was for this exact reason that Harry was so amazed when Sirius nodded his agreement to Dumbledore. The look of pure fear on Caz's face did not go unnoticed by Harry and he couldn't help but wonder if he bore the same expression. Dumbledore then continued to speak;  
  
"I trust you've all taken your necklaces off? Miss Black you'll be sorted prior to the first years. No need to look so worried, you'll be just fine."  
  
They reached the great hall and went in and sat down. Sirius, Remus, Jen and Abbi followed Dumbledore to the staff table, joining the members of staff who were already present. Harry immediately noticed that Trelawney was nowhere to be seen however his rejoicing was short lived when he remembered that she rarely came down to meals, preferring to eat in solitude up in her tower.  
  
Caz perched next to Harry at the Gryfindor table waiting for the first people to arrive. As soon as the door opened Caz rose and went to stand at the back of the hall waiting for McGonagall to arrive with the first years.  
  
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As the Hogwarts express drew into Hogsmeade station Ron and Hermione were worried. They'd felt sure Harry would be waiting for them on the train however they'd spent the entire journey scouring the express for any sign that Harry was there and the search had been inconclusive. Harry was nowhere to be found. They climbed off the train, each with a million what ifs going through their heads. Even though Dumbledore himself had warned them that Harry was out of contact it still worried them that something may have happened to him. In silence they clambered into a carriage with Neville and Ginny and travelled up to the school. They entered the great hall where upon they saw..  
  
"Harry!" They chorused. Each face broke into a grin and they dashed to where Harry was sitting at the Gryffindor table. Up at the staff table Sirius leaned over and whispered something in Remus' ear. Remus laughed.  
  
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Once everyone was seated Dumbledore stood to introduce the sorting by some miraculous cause of fortune no one had yet noticed the four guests up at the staff table. Dumbledore cleared his throat and addressed the students;  
  
"Before we start the sorting ceremony I have a special announcement. We have a new fifth year student joining us this year. She will be sorted prior to the first years and I trust that her class mates will make her feel welcome."  
  
When Dumbledore had finished speaking the sorting hat began to sing;  
  
Welcome all who hope to learn About magic spells and magic ferns Where you belong is up to me So put me on and we'll soon see.  
  
Do you belong in Gryffindor They're all brave, are you? Or maybe in dear old Hufflepuff  
  
where they're loyal through and through?  
  
Or should you be in Ravenclaw Is studying your thing? Or finally there's Slytherin For the sly and for the cunning?  
  
So slip me on your noggin And let me peak inside And I shall tell you where you shall find Your future from far and wide.  
  
McGonagall stood with the list of new students and said;  
  
"Black, Catherine"  
  
Mumbles broke out amongst the students as they all contemplated her sir name. Caz looked at Harry nervously then looked up to the staff table and Jen, Remus, Sirius and Abbi. She walked towards the stool and sat down with the hat on her head, listening to its musings;  
  
'Hmmmmmmm.. A desire to do well, yes Ravenclaw would serve you well, but no. A lot of loyalty too, especially towards your uncle. Still, no. Ah, but bravery, yes, I know just where to put you,  
  
"GRYFFINDOR"  
  
Caz breathed a sigh of relief as she jumped up and ran over to the Gryffindor table where Harry had already made a space for her. She sat next to him, shot a huge smile at the four at the staff table who were grinning like Cheshire cats and sat contentedly through the rest of the sorting.  
  
Once that was over Dumbledore rose to give out the notices. Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered;  
  
"I wonder who we'll get for Defence against the dark arts this year." Then as an afterthought he added, "And I wonder how long they'll stay." Harry laughed and diverted his attention back to Dumbledore;  
  
"As always pupils should note that the forbidden forest is just that. Strictly forbidden." He looked pointedly at Ron and Harry who both blushed deep crimson, "Mr Filch has posted a list of items not to be used on school grounds in each common room. I suggest you read them. And I must remind you that no magic is to be done in the corridors between lessons." Harry couldn't help noticing the look on Sirius' face when Dumbledore gave the final notice. Somewhere between complete horror and absolute mischief, from the giggles coming from Caz she had noticed it too.  
  
Dumbledore continued his speech; "Some of you may have noticed four new faces at the staff table." There were murmurs around the hall as people began to notice however still there was no outcry at Sirius' presence. "It falls to me to announce" Continued Dumbledore, "that there have been some changes in your schedules and in the teaching staff this year. Due to recent events we have deemed it necessary for you all to take compulsory self defence lessons this year. These shall be taught in partnership with defence against the dark arts although each subject shall have different professors, classrooms and time table slots."  
  
A low hum of whispering broke out among the students in the great hall. A new class, everyone was excited and they were all wondering who the new professors would be. Still Harry was amazed that no one paid an ounce of attention to Sirius' presence. Dumbledore clapped his hands,  
  
"Students, I know you are all wondering who will be teaching these subjects this year. I am pleased to announce four additions to the teaching staff this year, Professors Lupin, Black, Figg and Black."  
  
Dumbledore stood in silence waiting to see what reaction he would get to dropping this bombshell. Specifically he was looking at two students sat at the Gryffindor table. They did not disappoint him;  
  
"WHAT?!?!" Caz and Harry both yelled at the same time, "How did you..? When did you...? Why didn't you tell us?!"  
  
Silence was kept in the great hall and all eyes were on them. Suddenly a thought came to Harry,  
  
"Sirius, you can't teach here, you're an escaped convict!" Dumbledore smiled and laughed inwardly. He had wondered how long it would take for that to come up. It was Malfoy who eventually gave Harry a reply to his comment;  
  
"Don't you read Potter?! He was cleared of all charges two weeks ago! Sirius looked at Harry, a huge grin plastered across his face. Not even Malfoy could spoil this moment.  
  
***************************************  
  
The next morning dawned with a grey sky full of dreary black storm clouds,  
  
"Perfect day to start lessons" remarked Ron. This earned him a dirty look from Hermione however Harry noticed that for once they did not trade insults. Caz spoke up,  
  
"I wonder what lessons we'll have today. This is going to be so strange, I'm not used to having a routine. Mum just used to teach me what she felt like, when she felt like it."  
  
"Really?" Asked Hermione, "How did you cope with that? I'd never be able to cope without a routine."  
  
Harry heard Ron mumble something under his breath about routines and homework but didn't get a chance to comment as at that moment hundreds of owls swooped in delivering post and, of course, timetables for the year. Hermione was quick and grabbed her timetable with lightening speed reflexes. Caz was surprised to see her eagerness and rose her eyebrows at Harry who laughed. Harry and Caz had, both received letters, surprising both of them equally. While they tore into them Hermione examined her timetable in depth.  
  
"I think you're all going to like Tuesdays!" She exclaimed. Upon hearing her Ron grabbed his timetable to see what could have her so excited, Harry and Caz, on the other hand, were more absorbed in other things. Each of them sat staring at the letters in their hands. Hermione waved a hand in front of their eyes. But neither moved, just sat there in a trance like state for what seemed like for ever. Eventually Caz turned to Harry and said;  
  
"Do you think we'd better go and see them then?" Harry nodded his head and battled a will to speak for a few seconds, opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. Eventually he lost the battle and without another word he and Caz got up and left the great hall. Ron and Hermione were left none the wiser as to why.  
  
*************************************  
  
A/N:- so there we go. Another chapter up. I'm not sure it makes sense. I wrote it in Cambridge during the sixth form law conference. I had very little sleep that week so if it's a load of gibberish don't blame me. Thanx to Aurelia for the sorting hat song. I modified it a little - hope you don't mind. Next chapter hopefully by the end of next week. In it I'll tie up a few loose ends before I launch into the next phase of the story. Ends such as 'what happened with Sirius' and 'what's going on with Tim' if there's anything else you want to know about then let me know and if it's relevant I'll put it in. The problem is things that make sense to me make no sense to anyone else so just let me know if there's something you don't get. 


	11. The Truth Uncovered

Chapter Eleven – The Truth Uncovered

Disclaimer:- I don't own them; I'm just messing with them for a bit.  I'll give them back when I get bored honest!!!!!

A/N:-  New chappie, sorry its taken so long!  I forgot when I promised it'd be done sooner, we have charity week at school this week.  All my free time has been devoted to making costumes for each day.  So far I've been a hippy and a fairy!  Tomorrow's Grease day, fun fun fun in sixth form!!!!!

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            Harry and Caz walked briskly through the halls towards Dumbledore's office without saying a word.  Both were deep in thought, wondering what could be so important that it couldn't wait until after breakfast.  

They were both absolutely shattered.  They had sat up until the early hours of the morning with Ron and Hermione, discussing the summer, Ron and Hermione's new relationship, Caz's past, and, most importantly, Sirius' freedom and the possible reasons why he had neglected to tell them about it before the whole school had found out about his teaching position.   Harry and Caz had of course felt complete idiots following their outburst in front of the rest of the student body which Ron took great delight in telling them was perfectly understandable since they looked it as well.  This had earned him a playful slap from Hermione, who had then gone on to point out that they hadn't looked completely stupid, just pretty stupid.

            Back to the current time they had reached the entrance to Dumbledore's office and it was only then that they realised neither of them knew the password.  In a hurry to get in Harry decided guessing would be the best bet.  Knowing that it would be sweet related they took it in turns to guess,

"Blood Lolly's?"

"Canary Creams?"

"Fizzing Whizbees?"

"Chocolate Frogs?"

"Every Flavour Beans?"

"Candy Floss?"

             At that the gargoyle jumped to one side.  Harry was surprised.  Candy floss was a muggle thing, he'd only had it once and even then he had taken some of Dudley's and had paid dearly for the mistake, he hadn't been fed after that incident for three weeks and for a growing six year old that was most definitely not funny.  He wondered when Dumbledore had come across the food.  

            As he and Caz ascended the staircase they both began to worry.  Was something wrong?  Why else would they have been called here?  Harry reached out and knocked on the office door but it was not Dumbledore who answered.  Instead Remus' voice yelled,

"Come in!"

            Harry looked at Caz and shrugged.  He pushed open the door and the two of them walked in.  Inside Dumbledore's office they saw Remus, Sirius, Jen and Abbi all sat around obviously waiting for them.  Dumbledore was no where to be seen.  Abbi obviously noticed Harry's questioning lance around the room because she looked to him and said,

"Dumbledore's at breakfast.  He's lent us his office because ours isn't ready yet and we needed somewhere private to speak to the two of you."

            Harry nodded t this revelation and him and Caz sat down in the two spare seats set out for them in the office.  Sirius looked to the two of them,

"There are a couple of things we need to talk to you about.  We have some things we feel we need to explain to the two of you and then there are a couple of visitors to the school that Professor Dumbledore would like the two of you to look after"

            He said this with a twinkle in his eyes that Harry could swear he had never seen before, not in Sirius' eyes anyway.  It reminded him somewhat of the look professor Dumbledore always wore when teaching one of 'life's many lessons'.

Jen was the next to speak, "First on the agenda.  Harry we feel there is something you need to know."

            Harry sensed the tenseness in the air as she said this to him and looked up at the adults waiting for them to continue.  Eventually Jen picked up where she left off, seeing she would get no reaction from Harry,

"It appears that Voldemort has an heir.  This has only come to light in the past few weeks but w…"

Harry cut her off, "Tim."

            It was one word but all of a sudden it became so clear to Harry.  The pain he had felt the second he had touched Tim, coursing through his body like a thousand cruciatius curses.  It seemed like years since the incident that night at the Dursley's, in fact it was only a little over a month ago.  It all became so obvious to him.  He realised then that it had been Tim who had killed his aunt and uncle and Dudley.  His family.  If you could call them that.  They weren't really family, just people that he had the misfortune to be related to.  Suddenly he realised something;

"But Dudley said they were friends from school.  There is no way Voldemort would send his son to a muggle school!"

Sirius soon shattered that argument, "unless it gave him a way of getting to you.  Voldemort wants you Harry, there's no easy way of putting that. If the only way of doing that was to make his son pose as a muggle then he would do it."

            Harry resigned himself to the fact that they were right.  Voldemort had an heir.  So there were two of them to get rid of now.  Great.  Just what the-boy-who-lived needed.  A second person to save the world from.

            Harry decided then and there that wallowing in self pity was going to get him nowhere.  He looked up.  

"So what else did you have to tell us?"

******************************************

Ron and Hermione stared after the retreating backs of their friends wondering what could have them so shaken up.  They both had looked terrible as they left the great hall.  *It was so bad that neither of them had even bothered to look at their timetables!*  Hermione thought.

            It was then that Ron noticed the discarded notes addressed to their friends on the table.  He picked on of them up and read,

_Harry__, _

_   We need to see you and Caz in Dumbledore's office.  NOW.  It's really important, We have a few things to tell you, not all bad.  Don't worry, neither of you are in trouble, but please come alone.  You can tell __Ron__ and Hermione about this later but the two of you need to hear it on your own first.  See you in a few minutes,_

_            Sirius, Abbi, Remus and Jen._

            Ron and Hermione both sat staring at the letter in front of them wondering what was going on.  What could be o important that they would get called off now, after all, they had defence against the dark arts first thing, followed by self defence.  It wasn't as if they weren't likely to see the four new professors at all that day.   

*******************************************

            "We thought," said Sirius, "That you might like to know just how come I've been cleared of my so called crimes."

            Harry's ears pricked up at this.  Sirius was right, of course.  Him and Caz, along with Ron and Hermione had spent quite a while the previous night discussing how it could have come about, none of them coming up with anything anywhere near credible.  

Sirius continued, "Well it was actually quite a surprise for all of us.  None of us had to lift a finger."

"What??!!"  Asked Harry.  "Ho do you mean, the ministry just suddenly changed their minds?"

"Not exactly Harry."  Answered Jen.  "You see, Voldemort did it all for us."

"How do you mean?"  Asked Caz.  "Did he bribe the ministry or something?  I don't get it!"

Remus laughed.  "Hardly!  No, he either forgot himself completely, which you have to admit is completely unlikely, he's a prat but he's not an idiot," Harry snorted at the truthfulness in that comment, "Or he was just completely fed up of Wormtail.  That one is more likely and totally understandable.  Wormtail could try the patience of a saint, believe me on that, when we were at school all of us could have killed him at some point or another!"

Harry and Caz sat looking at the four adults in front of them waiting for further explanation.  So far they knew hardly anymore about Sirius' freedom, what could have happened.  It was Abbi who took over and carried on with the explanation.

"Nearly three weeks ago Wormtail sauntered into the ministry building in London with a letter from Voldemort for the minister.  Stupid prat obviously forgot the small fact of him being supposedly dead!"

"So he just handed himself over.  Just like that then?"  Asked Caz

"Basically yes.  The ministry apprehended him straight away, finally realising that there was more going on than they first thought.  They questioned him under veritaserum, partly because of the fact Dumbledore had already told them on more than one occasion that he was alive and working for Voldemort, partly because most people, when confronted with someone who has  been dead for 14 years would want some answers.  The questioning gave the answers that Dumbledore has been telling them are true for the past 18 months and they signed some forms, sent them to Dumbledore, he passed them to Sirius and there you have it."  

She took a deep breath as she finished the story and Sirius beamed at Harry and Caz who sat gaping before them, both of them speechless.  Finally Harry found his tongue.  

"So that's it?? Wormtail slipped up and that's all it took?  That's great Sirius!"

  
            There were hugs all round and a lot of smiles before Sirius spoke,

"That's not all we had to tell you.  There's one more thing."

            Harry and Caz looked at them all in confusion.  What else could there be?

"Turn around."  Said Jen simply with a huge smile on her face.  

            Harry and Caz did as they were told, turning slowly as if scared to see what might be behind them.  Finally Harry saw the final surprise of the morning.  He blinked a few times, trying to get his mind to register what he was seeing.  His mouth went back into goldfish mode and all coherent thought was gone.  

"Aren't you going to say anything?"  asked Remus

            To that, Harry did the only thing a boy in his position could do.  He fainted.

***********************************

A/N – so there we go.  Another chapter.  It took me a bit longer that expected, that was the third attempt at it.  I kept changing my mind, re thinking things, getting stuck.  It's done now, the next couple of chapters are outlined and hopefully with it being school holidays at the moment I can get at least one of them if not both of them out in the next couple of weeks, we'll see how it goes.  

The formatting here was a little dodgy, sorry, I was trying to get it to look right and getting nowhere fast so I just gave up in the end.  Thanx to my reviewers, you know who you are!  


	12. An Unexpected Reunion

Chapter 12 – An Unexpected Reunion

Disclaimer – They aren't mine, unfortunately.  I wish I could take the credit for them but I can't so I won't.

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            Remus reached out and caught Harry before he hit the floor.  Gathering him up he dropped him into a chair and they all gathered round while they waited for him to come round.  

"Well that wasn't quite the reaction I was expecting from him."  Said one of the visitors with a voice full of amusement, "Although to be fair to him I would have probably had a similar reaction."

"You can hardly blame him though can you?"  Asked the second visitor, "This must have been an awful shock to him.  We could have just been a lot nicer and you lot could have warned him first."  Her second comment was addressed to the four grinning professors in front of her.

            Harry stirred at this point, slowly starting to come round.  As the room started to come into focus the first person he saw was Sirius.  He rubbed his eyes, allowing his vision to clear a little more before addressing those present in the room.

"What happened?  I thought…..  I was…….. Am I seeing things?"  He asked sluggishly.

"That depends Harry."  Said Jen with a gleam in her eyes.  "What do you think you saw?"

"I… It was…..  My parents."  Said Harry finally, "But it can't be them right?  I mean, there's still over a month before everything'll be ready."

"You aren't seeing things Harry."  Said a female voice behind him.  "It's really us."

            Harry turned round again.  This time he didn't faint but looked into the two smiling faces before him.  A huge grin broke across his face,

"Mum, Dad."  He said.

            And then, as if suddenly realising they could move, the three of them all leapt up and into a group hug.  For the first time really in his life, that he could remember anyway, Harry truly felt like he had a proper family.  His own family.

**********************************

Breakfast in the great hall drew to a close and Harry and Caz were still not back from their trip to Dumbledore's office.  Ron and Hermione were getting anxious.  Something had to be up.  They knew it.  Reluctantly they both moved off towards the defence classroom.  For their first lesson.

As they left the great hall Draco Malfoy strode up alongside them,

"Weasley, Granger, haven't you lost something?"

"What are you talking about Malfoy?"  Asked Hermione, "I'm really not in the mood for one of your riddles this morning."

            Draco snorted at that comment although Hermione seemed oblivious to what she'd said.  He decided to run through all that with them next time he spoke to them,

"Come on, you know what I'm talking about, Potter, what have you done with him?"

"What's it to you?"  Ron asked.  He was already getting fed up of this conversation.

"Look Weasley, I'm trying to be nice to you.  I was simply wondering where Potter is.  As much as it pains me to say it, I need to talk to him.  You're his friends; I thought you might know where he was.  I'm not trying to pull anything, honest."

            Ron and Hermione exchanged glances.  This was new to them; Malfoy was actually having some semblance of a civilised conversation with them.  Finally Hermione spoke.

"He had to go and see Professor Black.  We don't know how long it'll take."  Ron stood next to her scowling as she spoke, "What do you want with Harry anyway?  It's not like you're on speaking terms or anything."

"Well I don't see what it's got to do with you Weasley.  Look, just tell him I'm looking for him ok?"  With that Malfoy stalked off down the corridor leaving a very confused pair of Gryfindors in his wake.

  
************************************

            Remus, Sirius, Jen, Abbi and Caz stood watching the emotional reunion going on between Harry and his parents.  Eventually when the hugging and crying had subsided Sirius spoke up.

"We have to go now.  Lesson to teach.  Harry, count yourself excused from your first lesson, we'll see you later."  With that the five of them left Lily, James and Harry alone.

            James was the one who eventually broke the silence that had descended upon them, "Did Padfoot just say he was teaching?!"

            Harry laughed, "Hard to believe isn't it.  Caz and I nearly choked when Dumbledore announced it last night.  Somehow I get the feeling his lessons are going to be very interesting."

            The three of them laughed at the thought of Sirius trying to keep a class full of teenagers in order.  Somehow all any of them could see was Sirius being the worst of the lot.  Eventually Harry sobered the mood a little,

"What happened?  How come you're here?  I mean…..  One minute you're dead and the next you're here in the headmaster's office.  How come?"

            James smiled at him.  "Do you recon everyone'll be in lessons by now?  It safe to walk the corridors without being mobbed?"

            Harry glanced at his watch, "Yeah should be.  Why do you ask?"

"Lets go for a walk while we talk shall we Harry.  It's a bit of a long story and it's getting awfully stuffy in here.  I could do with some fresh air."  Lily said to her son.

            They all rose and left the office together, Harry between his parents and feeling the most happy and comfortable he had in years.  As they walked down the corridors towards the entrance hall a warm feeling descended on Harry, one that he couldn't shake, and didn't want to.  When they reached the entrance hall James pushed the giant front doors of the castle open and both he and Lily breathed a deep sigh.

"There's a sight I never thought I'd see again."  Commented Lily happily.

            They descended the steps together and headed towards the lake. Finally Harry decided to ask again,

"So what's this long story then?"

"He's nearly as impatient as you are."  Said Lily to James.  "I didn't think that was possible."

            James stuck his tongue out at Lily in a childish manner and blew a raspberry at her.  Lily responded to the by playfully whacking him round the shoulder blade which he began to rub.

"God's, did you have to hit me so hard lils?"  He joked.  Her only answer to this was to stick her tongue out at him.  Harry couldn't help laughing at their behaviour; he guessed that wherever they had been the past fourteen years, it had not allowed them much of a chance to grow up. 

Finally they reached a nice spot by the lake; under the shade of a nearby tree but still warm all the same in the September sun.  Eventually James started the story.

"The first thing that you need to understand Harry is that the attack on Godric's hollow fourteen years ago was mostly staged.  Neither of us died in the attack, you'd probably figured that one out by yourselves but anyway.  I guess to explain everything to you we need to start back a long time ago…….."

*****~~~*****Flashback******~~~******

Little Lily Evans had always been a quite child.  Her older sister Petunia, from the day Lily had arrived hated her because of this.  All she ever heard was 'little Lily' this and 'little Lily' that.  She hated it.  What made it ten times worse was that 'little Lily' wasn't even her real sister.  She was adopted.  Abandoned on their doorstep when she was only a few months old.  And of course with her parents being the kind and caring people they were, 'little Lily' got treated like royalty in the house.  She could do no wrong!  Petunia absolutely despised her.

This hatred naturally increased ten fold when she found out that not only was little orphan Lily her parents little princess, she was also a witch.

Lily went of to a school full of people like her.  Petunia hated her for this.  Secretly she thought maybe it was jealousy, but that all changed the summer after Lily's sixteenth birthday.

Lily bought some friends home with her for the summer.  Six friends to be exact.  They made Petunia's summer absolute hell, and that was putting it mildly.  She didn't understand why her parents had agreed to this, it was a complete nightmare.  However none of them were prepared for what was going to happen at the end of the summer.

On the morning of August 31st 1982 the Evans household was particularly quiet.  None of the freaks, as Petunia called them, were awake yet, and Petunia, who was in a particularly good mood owing to the fact that soon she would be free of the freaks, was having a very rare heart to heart with her parents and her cousins, who were spending the weekend with them, over breakfast.  Shortly after chaos ensued.  
  


It started with a knock on the door.  Footsteps, sounding like seven baby elephants bounding down the stairs, resounded round the house.  Petunia heard the door open from her space in the kitchen.  Then she heard a scream.  That did not sound good.  She thought to herself.  

Seven sixteen year olds came careering into the kitchen, all looking like they'd just seen a ghost.  The smallest of them, Petunia was fairly certain that he was called Peter, was panting heavily.  'Death……..Eaters……' he finally managed to get out.  At that point the kitchen door was blown off its hinges and the kitchen was flooded by men in black robes.  Or at least Petunia presumed they were men.  It was hard to tell, they were all completely covered by robes and masks. 

One of them seemed to take the lead.  He ordered Petunia and her family to stand in a corner.  Petunia obliged.  These men did not seem to be the sort you messed with.  Her family on the other hand, did not.  Her mother moved to shield Lily and her friends, asking the men what they wanted.  The man in charge just laughed and shot some sort of spell at her.  From that point in Petunia had blamed Lily for what had happened.  There was a lot more orders flung about and quite a few spells sent at Petunia and Lily's family.  Petunia was unsure what exactly happened next but suddenly all the men were gone.  So were her cousins.  Killed at the hands of these Death Eaters.

Petunia burst into tears at the sight of her cousins lying there.  Lily just stood in a shocked silence staring at their bodies, lying in front of her.  Petunia didn't expect her to be upset.  After all, it wasn't like they were that close or anything.  Their parents lay unconscious on the kitchen floor.   It was at that point that a man had stepped out of the shadows and grabbed Lily's wrist.  He'd called her Lillian.  Said he was her father and asked her to go with him.  She'd screamed at him to get lost, told him that he wasn't her father, and he'd gone.  Just like that.

~~~~ three years later ~~~~

            After leaving school Lily hadn't gone home.  Instead she'd moved in with her fiancé James.  Home life was unbearable for her anyway since the event three summers ago.  Petunia blamed her for the death of their cousins and Lily supposed that really it was partly her fault.  She didn't want to put her family in any more danger so she stayed away.

            Her wedding day was the last time she saw her parents.  In the end they were killed just for being associated with her.  She hated herself for it.  Her sister hated her for it as well.

~~~~Halloween 1986~~~~

            Lily was upstairs putting Harry to bed when it had happened.  She'd heard banging downstairs and so she'd hastily put the wards up around Harry's crib that she'd taken to using each night, just in case, and gone downstairs to see what was wrong.  When she'd gotten down there she'd seen James in the hands of some death eaters.  She'd started to panic but at that point she'd been grabbed from behind and she and James had been apparated away from there in the blink of an eye.

            The Dark Lord Voldemort had remained to search the house, finding only a baby upstairs.  He'd attempted to erase the baby from existence before returning to talk to his captives.  Apparently the wards put up by Lily had done their job.  Voldemort could return nowhere that night.

*****~~~*****End Flashback******~~~******

            Harry sat gaping at the story he had just heard.  

            "So you were never dead then?  Just kidnapped?"

            "That's right Harry.  Held captive in Malfoy manor for fourteen years.  Believe me when I say that it was NOT fun."  Said James.

            Harry laughed.  "I bet it wasn't!  So how did you get out? Did they just let you go?  And why did they want mum so badly?"

            Lily smiled at Harry.  "The answer to that question will probably shock you.  In fact it will definitely shock you."  She said, "You see, I'm a pureblood.  One of the purest there are.  I'm a Malfoy Harry."

            She paused allowing this sentence to sink in.  Harry sat there in a shocked silence.  Was he really hearing this?  If his mother was a Malfoy, that meant he was part Malfoy as well.  He didn't even want to think of the implications in that right now.

            Lily took his silence as consent for her to continue.  She took another breath.  "Harry, me and Lucius Malfoy are twins.  When we were born, I wasn't good enough for them, I wasn't male.  They needed Lucius as an heir to the Malfoy name but I, a girl, wasn't good enough for them so they abandoned me on a random doorstep.  That in itself was particularly out of character for a Malfoy.  Really I wouldn't expect any less than for them to have left me to die of starvation or something."

  
            Harry sat gaping as he still tried to comprehend this.  If what his mother was saying was right then that meant that him and Draco Malfoy were cousins.  Cousins.  That couldn't be right.  Could it?  He decided to listen to the rest of the story before he started dwelling on this minor issue.  Not that it was all that minor.

            "So why did they suddenly decide they wanted you back then?"  Harry asked.  "If you were not good enough for them then why did they go to all that trouble?"

            "Simple Harry."  Replied James, "They found out how powerful a witch your mother was.  Had they known before they wouldn't have given her up.  They realised when Lucius started talking about the 'know-it-all mudblood' that they'd made a mistake.  They thought that they could just turn her to the dark and use that power.  They were wrong."

            Lily took over the story, "That day at Godric's hollow, they took me because of who I was.  They took James because they knew I wouldn't agree to anything without him there, plus it gave them a handy bargaining tool.  They didn't even know you were there.  Voldemort tried to kill you after everyone else had left, despite popular opinion, the attack on you was not planned."  
  
            Harry sat still trying to understand everything, "So you've spent the past fourteen years locked up in Malfoy manor, with Lucius trying to persuade you to join the dark side.  How did you escape?"

            "Well isn't that an interesting story."  Stated James.  "I guess we owe our thanks to a certain nephew of ours for that."

            "MALFOY!"  Yelled Harry.  "Are you saying that Draco Malfoy, scum of Hogwarts, mortal enemy of me and my friends and the boy who has done his absolute best to make the past five years of my life absolute hell, is the one who is responsible for your escape?!"  

            Lily had to laugh at her son's outburst.  "He really isn't all that bad Harry, just give him a chance.  I think you'll be surprised."

            "Mum, are we talking about the same person here?  This is the Draco Malfoy that calls one of my best friends 'filthy mudblood'.  The same Draco Malfoy that calls my other best friend 'the weasel'.  The same Draco Malfoy that calls me 'potty' and calls you the 'good for nothing' parents!"  Harry was starting to get a little annoyed now and nothing anyone could say was going to convince him that Draco Malfoy was a good person.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Harry and Lily both too stubborn to back down.  Eventually Harry had been the first to let up.  He explained gently to his mother that Malfoy had never given him a reason to like him and until he did he would find it hard to believe Malfoy had the capability to be nice.  
  
            Lily smiled before reaching over and pulling Harry into a hug, "I know."  She whispered in his ear, "He's working on it."

James looked at his wife and son, a huge grin on his face.  "Let's go inside."  He stated, "I believe some friends of ours are teaching a class full of fifth years and I haven't pulled any pranks for fourteen years!"

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            Caz sat at the back of the new self defence classroom with Ron and Hermione.  It wasn't so much a classroom as a sports hall.  The Gryfindors sat on one side of the room, the Slytherin's on the other with the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's integrated between them.   The class wasn't supposed to be this big.  The whole of the fifth year was crammed into the room just for the first lesson of the morning so they could have all four professors together rather than having two identical classes taught in two different places.

            The idea was that the courses would be explained, including the difference between self defence and defence against the dark arts.  Following that the four professors had planned to give a small demonstration of how to apply a combination of both subjects and then they were going to have a free for all question and answer session.  The idea was that through that they could gain the trust of the students, have a little fun and avoid having to actually teach anything that first lesson.  Hopefully it would automatically get the students enjoying the lessons making it much easier for them to teach them.  Things were not going completely to plan.

            The first problem came on the form of their arrival into the classroom.  They had made sure to leave a note on the door of the defence against the dark arts room telling everyone where they were going, so they were pleased if not surprised to find everyone had made it to the right place on time.  However all was not peaceful.  When they had walked into the room they had immediately been met by the sounds of yelling.  Upon investigation they had discovered Malfoy, Ron and Hermione having a slanging match in the middle of the room surrounded by half of their year group.

            Jen had not been amused.  She'd dispersed the crowd fairly quickly whilst Sirius had guided Ron and Hermione away from Malfoy.  None of them were sure what the cause of the argument was however Remus had a pretty good idea that it would involve Harry in some shape or form.

            The next thing that had proved difficult was getting everyone to shut up.  After five minutes of gentle pleas for them to shut up Abbi had resorted to setting of a few filibuster fireworks in the middle if the room.  It soon caught everyone's attention, unfortunately when lighting the firework she had also managed to light Remus' robe.  After putting out the fire everything went smoothly.  Until the demonstration.

            The four new professors had all decided before the class that no seriously dark magic or dangerous curses were to be used during the demonstration.  They didn't want to hospitalise anyone on their first day.  That would definitely have been a bad idea.  This was the exact reason why they were so surprised to hear someone yell 'Imperio' half way through the demonstration.  Luckily it hadn't hit anyone but it threw them all of guard therefore making a shambles of the rest of the demonstration.  None the less when they all finally gave up the class cheered for them half heartedly.  

            After they were through with the demonstration it was time for the free for all questions and answers.  There were a list of things they were expecting including questions about Remus' lycanthropy and Sirius' time in Azkaban.  Therefore they were unsurprised when Justin Finch-Flechly raised his hand and asked the first question,

            "How did you escape from Azkaban Professor Black?"

            Sirius sighed.  He'd been expecting this but still he was unsure about how to answer without giving away that he was an illegal animagus.

            "Well the most important part was staying sane.  That bit was easy.  You know the basic principals of a domenter?  They feed of your happy thoughts.  Only having unhappy memories is enough to drive anyone insane.  I managed to get around that.  The only thought on my mind for twelve years was that I was innocent and that everyone I loved was suffering because of me.  That's not a happy thought; the domenter's couldn't take it from me.  But in that thought there's hope and that can keep a strong man going a long time.  As long as I knew they could cope and that my family were still alive out there I could keep my sanity.  
  
            The escape was partly down to Minister Crouch.  When he visited Azkaban two years ago he gave me his news paper and that was the biggest mistake he ever made.  It told me where the treacherous rat was and gave me the kick up the backside I needed.  The next time I had a meal delivered I gave the guards the slip and ran for my life."  

            There were murmurs of approval from around the room.  Three Gryfindors sat at the back of the room with raised eyebrows, the only students in the room to know the full story.  Jen looked around,

            "Next Question."

  
*******************************************

            James, Lily and Harry slid into the back of the room just in time to hear Jen asking for the next question.  Harry guessed from the silence around the room that everyone was nervous of the new professors.  After a couple of minutes James decided it was time to have some fun.  Without raising his hand, so as to make sure he got to ask his question, he innocently said,

            "Why do you and professor Snape hate each other so much?"

            Abbi glared at hi, "I think you know the answer to that question.  You should do anyway."  She said

            Unfortunately for them James' question had the desired effect and the rest of the class had caught on, wanting to know the answer.  Sirius and Remus were shooting death glares at James, Harry and Lily who were sat at the back of the room in fits of silent laughter.  Eventually Remus decided to close the matter,

            "We didn't get on in school, we still don't get on now, and we're unlikely to get on any time in the foreseeable future."

            The class guessed from that that the matter was closed and as the three at the back of the room began to calm down people started to gain some confidence and began raising their hands.  Unfortunately the first person to raise his hand and ask a question was none other than Vincent Crabbe from Slytherin.

            "Whatever is Professor Dumbledore thinking allowing such a dangerous creature to teach at Hogwarts after what happened last time?"  He asked with a smirk.

            That had done it.  Before Crabbe knew what was happening he was on the receiving end of four hexes from members of Gryfindor house.  Sirius looked murderous as did Jen and Abbi.  Remus looked totally shocked that anyone would say it, even though he knew it was what some people were thinking.  At the back of the room Lily was doing her best to keep James from killing Crabbe with his bare hands.  Eventually Sirius found his voice.

            "Let's get a few things straight shall we.  Number one.  Werewolves are only dangerous for one night a month.  The rest of the time they are normal people with normal feelings and you would all do well to remember that.  Number two.  What happened at the end of your third year was an accident.  It wasn't Professor Lupin's fault and no one was hurt.  Mr Crabbe you will be serving detention for that little remark.  Stay after the lesson to arrange a time."

            A problem had arisen however.  It seemed that that small question spurred the Slytherin's on in their 'let's attack the teachers' phase.  The next question came from Goyle,

            "Why on earth did you make friends with him in the first place?"

            Now anyone with half a brain cell would have taken heed from Crabbe's mistake and realised that they would probably get hurt for that remark.  However this was Goyle so it was hardly surprising he said it.  No sooner had he uttered the words than Harry, Caz, Ron and Hermione were on their feet, wands pointed at Goyle.  Lily had let go of James in shock and he too was on his feet, looking ready to kill all the Slytherin's if any more of them dared have a go.  Jen and Abbi were holding Sirius back and Remus was turning in circles working out who to address first.  Eventually he turned to Ron, Hermione and Caz.  

            "Mr Weasley, Miss Granger and Miss Black, please sit down."  They did as they were told with no arguing but without taking their eyes off of Goyle.  Next he turned to Harry and James.

            "Mr Potter.  Please sit.  You too Prongs.  Now is not the time."  Harry lowered himself to the ground again but James never moved.  Remus tried again.  

            "Prongs, Sit down.  Now.  Please."

            James looked at him.  "No moony.  No one got away with saying things like that when we were kids, and I'm not about to back down now."

            All the students were looking round now to see who was talking.  Ron and Hermione had heard Remus calling him prongs and turned round too see.  Both their jaws dropped as they say James stood there next to Harry and Lily.  Harry winked at them.  'Tell you later' he mouthed.

            Murmurs broke out among the students but Abbi silenced them.

            "Class dismissed.  Everyone return to your common rooms until lunch time and I don't want any reports of your misbehaving."  She turned to the Slytherin's.  "Mr Crabbe and Mr Goyle.  You will both stay behind.  I can't begin to tell you how much trouble you are in"

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A/N – I know I promised two chapters by the end of the holidays.  Here is one.  It's twice as long as any chapter I've written yet – 10 pages in word.  Until now the longest was 4 and a half!  It just kept flowing and I didn't know where to stop so I kept going until I found what seemed to be a fairly good place.  So tell me what you think and I'll see if I can get another chapter out for this time next week.

Reviewers

I don't normally do this but, what the hey?!  (I think this is called 'back responding')  
  


**takari4ever7 – **romance?  I was wondering about that.  I did have two ideas but I think this chapter just about screws them up.  Oh well, there's one more possibility…….

**SilverMoon** – Got it in one.

**krazymelmo5385, ****Alison – I am, I am.**

**Kezza13** – did I answer your question?  Thanx.

**Shdurrani** - Thanx

Ok, I'm not going any further back than that because it'll get ridiculous.  Thanx to all my other reviewers named below though;

**Englishgirl, A.Dee, kateydidnt** (yeah I know my times are all out but I wasn't sure so I used creative licencing.), **HPlover234, ****Annie****, Truechinook, redberrywine, ****Lady ****SallyRose****, Garnet433, manateegirl524, olivierwood, Sirens*echo, DeathValley79, TheShadowWithin and RaistlinofMetallica.**


	13. Breaking the News

Chapter 13 – Breaking the News

Disclaimer – Not mine!  How many times do I have to tell you!!!!!

Reviewers

**Momma-dar** – neither did I to start with!  I knew I wanted him in the story and the 

                       idea just hit me over the head so I used it!

**SilverMoon** – doesn't it just!  It's getting better still now!

**Prongs** – Thanx.  I thought I'd just be different.  Remus and Harry don't interact  

                enough if you ask me!

**takari4ever7** – you don't need to imagine anymore!  Just read this chapter

**Harry****'s Sister – thanx.  Enjoy the next chapter**

**A.Dee** – I know.  Very controversial!

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            The self defence classroom was silent. 13 people stood looking at each other, all waiting for someone else to speak.  Eventually Goyle got impatient,

"Are we here for a reason or shall we just leave?"  He turned slightly as if about to make for the door.  Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of Draco Malfoy, trade mark smirk on his face however somehow this smirk seemed somewhat different.  Were his eyes deceiving him or was that smirk directed at him?!  "Draco, you don't have to wait for us, we'll see you at lunch."

            Draco smirked even harder at the two Slytherin's in the room, "Don't worry.  I wasn't waiting for you two."  He turned to Lily and James, "I'm guessing you told him."  He said motioning towards Harry.  

            "Yes we did, I must say he reacted much the way you said you thought he would" Lily answered her nephew.  

            Around the group everyone except Harry looked thoroughly confused at the interaction going on between the young Malfoy and the Potters.  Finally after another few seconds of silence Jen decided it was time to take control of the situation.  She turned to Crabbe and Goyle, 

            "You two will both receive a week of detention and 50 points each from Slytherin for those comments.  I shall be talking to your head of house and seeing that a letter is sent home to your parents.  Now I suggest that you go to lunch.  We'll let you know when and where your detentions are to be served."

  
            It was obvious from that that Crabbe and Goyle were expected to leave and that was exactly what they did, casting one last curious glance at Draco before they left.  

**************************************

            Ten minutes later the eleven remaining people in the self defence room were sat around a small table eating lunch.  Dumbledore had seen one step ahead and had the house elves send something to the classroom for the group to eat together away from the rest of the students.  It was Hermione who first gained the courage to broach the subject.

            "So does someone want to explain what is going on then?"

            Harry laughed.  'Trust Hermione to be straight to the point.'  He thought.  He looked at his parents who were both giving him looks that clearly said 'your friends, you explain it'.  Harry took a deep breath and began to retell a simplified version of what his parents had told him for the sake of his friends.

****************************************

            At the end of his tale Ron and Hermione both sat gaping at him.  Caz and the four professors all looked shocked yet accepting and Malfoy just looked smug.  Ron took a leaf out of Harry's book and sat doing a goldfish impression for a few seconds before speaking.

            "So you……..and him……..are……related?!"  he asked incredulously.  "Please tell me that you're kidding and this is all some really evil joke.  He's evil!  You know that Harry, how many times have you said it?!"

            Draco smirked and rolled his eyes at Ron.  "Look Weasley, get it through your head.  I'm not evil.  I am not, despite popular opinion, anything like my father.  I never have been and I never will be.  Deal with it!"

            Lily looked at her nephew, "Draco, calm down.  Give them a chance to get used to the idea ok?  You said yourself; you've been pretty evil to them the past four years."  He seemed to relax a little at that, sitting back in his chair.  Lily continued to speak.  "now I remember you making us a promise Draco and since those exact circumstances have arisen I suggest you go and speak to the headmaster."  She gave him a look that simply said 'no arguments' and Draco left the room whilst pulling a face.

            Once Draco had left Sirius looked at Lily.  "so that's what Malfoy senior wanted you for that summer?!"  he stated.  Lily just grinned at him.  

            "Exactly."  She said.  "he wanted his daughter back.  He killed my whole family in order to get it as well."

            Jen looked at Lily kindly.  "It's great to have you both back." she said.

            James grinned when she said that.  "You lot should have seen the looks on your faces when we showed up last night……."  
  


~~~~FLASHBACK~~~~

            Sirius, Remus, Jen and Abbi sat round in their new rooms.  Dumbledore had given them their own suite, rather than separate rooms.  It was like a scaled down version of Gryffindor tower.  There was a shared living room in the middle with nine doors leading off of it.  Dumbledore had told them that two led to bathrooms, one to a small library and the other six to sleeping chambers.  At current they were all discussing the events due to take place on the upcoming Halloween.  They were all looking forward to seeing their friends again but they also knew the risks.  The slightest miss-calculation or slip-up and they could wipe out everything within a five mile radius.

            They were interrupted from there conversation by a knock at the door.  None of them were expecting visitors and naturally just presumed that it would be Caz and Harry come to see what on earth was going on.  The reaction they'd gotten out of them at the feast had after all been hilarious.

            Sirius yelled for their visitors to enter and none of them bothered to look as the portrait they were hiding behind swung open.  The first thing that caused them to take any notice was when one of their visitors spoke.

            "Alright guys?  Moony, Padfoot, I see some things never change.  You two are still as idle as ever!"  the visitors laughed as four heads snapped round to stare at them; four gaping mouths hung open before them.

            The second visitor spoke.  "you can all shut your mouths now.  I think we've established that you're shocked to see us.  Now are you lot going to say something or do we have to sit here all night?"

~~~~END FLASHBACK~~~~

            "We wouldn't have been so shocked if you two weren't so mean.  I mean fancy!  Just waltzing in there and expecting us to act like that sort of thing happened every day!"  Abbi declared indignantly.

            "At least none of you passed out!"  Exclaimed Harry, "Not like me.  You'd think after everything I'd seen in the past few years I'd be able to stay conscious but noooooo…"

            There was a chorus of laughter around the room.  Already the group was feeling perfectly comfortable with each other.  Harry was relieved that his friends had accepted all these changes so well.  It was a lot for him to cope with, he could only imagine how Ron and Hermione were feeling about it all, and after all, they had heard the very simplified tale of events, not the full story.

            They were pulled from there laughter by a knock on the door.  They all yelled for the person to come in at the same time and the door swung back to reveal professor Dumbledore and Draco stood behind it.  The two entered the room and Dumbledore shut the door, magically locking it after himself.  

            He noticed the enquiring gaze of the group before him and smiled a reassuring smile.  "we don't want interrupting whilst we're having this conversation."  He told them.

            It was Lily who broke the silence that descended on them, "Did you tell him Draco?"  she asked of her nephew.

            Draco smiled at her and nodded.  "Yes auntie Lily, I did, that's why we're here."

            Everyone turned enquiring looks back towards Dumbledore.  He smiled at them again.  "I think we should talk."  He stated.  "everyone make yourselves comfortable."  

            Dumbledore sat himself down in an empty seat, Draco resuming the seat he was occupying earlier.  Once they were all comfortable Dumbledore began.

            "I should start by telling you, Miss Granger, Miss Black, Mr Weasley, Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy, that I have arranged for you to be excused from this afternoon's lesson."  Seeing the look on Hermione's face he laughed inwardly, "Not to worry miss granger, professor McGonagall has told me that she is willing for you to make up the class with her at some point later in the week." 

 Hermione visible relaxed at this and James, Sirius and Remus all looked to each other, obviously suppressing laughter.  Dumbledore continued, "Now to address the problem at heart.  It is not going to surprise you when I tell you that over the past few months Voldemort has been gathering followers from every corner.  It pains me to say that we have to be aware of the fact that it is wholly possible, and indeed likely, that some of the students here have already taken or will in the near future take the dark mark."  Dumbledore paused to allow his statement to sink in.  after studying everyone's faces for a few seconds he continued.

"Sirius, Remus, Jen, Abbi, have any of you taken the opportunity to look in the spare rooms of your quarters?"

The four professors looked at each other and shook their heads.  Sirius answered, "We all took the time to look at our own rooms and the library and bathrooms, James and Lily took one of the spare rooms when they arrived last night but we haven't looked in the other one yet."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.  "Then you will most likely be thoroughly surprised by my latest revelation."

"I had this planned as a list minute resort in-case of emergency, however after mister Malfoy's revelation to me today I have decided to use this now, rather than wait for later.  At current I have some of the house-elves doing a little moving for me.  Lily and James, you shall remain at Hogwarts throughout this academic year, for your own safety as well as to give you a chance to get to know your son."

Dumbledore next turned solely on the students.  "You shall all be undergoing a change of house or the rest of the year."  The students all gasped.  Surely this could not be happening.  "Don't look so worried."  Continued Dumbledore.  The house I shall be moving you to is not one usually used within Hogwarts.  Indeed, it has not been used since Hogwarts first opened it's doors to students all those years ago.  The house I shall be putting you in is the house of the Phoenix."

Remus was the first in the room to regain the power of speech.  "but I thought that the house of the phoenix was just a myth.  Surely it cant be true.  Can it?"  he asked.  

Professor Dumbledore smiled.  "Oh but it is.  The sorting hat does not possess the ability to distinguish a true member of the house of the Phoenix.  That is left at the discretion of the schools headmaster.  I have decided to open this house until the end of the war to protect those most at risk from this war.  It will offer us the ability to protect them from anyone who may be holding any grudges or who may be working for the Dark Lord.  The house of the Phoenix shall operate slightly differently to any other Hogwarts house however I shall explain that when we have the final member of the house present."

            "Who's that professor?"  Asked Hermione

            "That, Miss Granger," he replied, "Would be Miss Weasley."  
  


            Ron Paled.  "My sister?  How come?"

            "Another issue, Mr Weasley, which shall be addressed once she is present."

            At that there was another knock on the door.  Dumbledore looked up.  "Who is it?"  he called.

            "It's Ginny Weasley."  A tentative voice on the other side of the door replied.  "Professor Snape gave me a message that I was to come here."

            Dumbledore waved his wand and the door flew open.  Ginny stepped into the room and no sooner was she inside than the door swung shot and re-locked itself behind her.  She looked terrified as she stood in the doorway.  Dumbledore motioned for her to join the group and she walked hesitantly to take a set next to Ron, looking at him for reassurance.

            Dumbledore decided that since Ginny was now present he should continue his explanation.  After a quick recap of what he'd just said, receiving similar reactions from Ginny that he had received from the rest of the group, he continued.

            "Now we're all present we can sort out the arrangements.  I have selected the six of you from the rest of the school because as it appears to me you are the ones in the most immediate danger.  I also put the proposal to Misters Fred and George Weasley however they both declined and I accepted that.  They have a valid point when they say that at the end of the year they are no longer under Hogwarts protection and therefore should also look after themselves this year.  On your parts though, this is non negotiable."  He paused there to let that statement sink in. eventually continuing his speech when he realised none of them were about to argue with him.

            "You shall all be moving into new dormitories this afternoon.  You will find your things have already been moved.  You will find your new dormitories near to the staff quarters.  Your area is not as big as that of Gryffindor tower or of Slytherin's dungeons however you have a small shared common room, a girls and a boy's dormitory and two shower rooms.  Access to your area requires you to go through the shared lounge of those adults present here, I'm sure that you will get a great deal of use out of their library as well, I would rather you use that than the school library if at all possible."

            Dumbledore paused as recognition crossed the face of his new professors while they began to understand the size of their suite.  They had already thought it was much too big for just the four of them.  Taking a breath Dumbledore continued;

            "As well as your change in living environment there will also be a change in your class schedules and in where you eat at mealtimes.  Obviously you will no longer be members of your old houses so it would not make sense for you to follow their timetables or to continue to eat with them.  I have had some house elves prepare a sixth table in the great hall.  It is smaller than the other house tables, just big enough for the six of you, and it is next to the staff table, the only place we could fit it in comfortably.  Your lessons shall take place with just the six of you.  Miss Weasley, you shall be following the fifth year syllabus and picking up the fourth year things as you go along.  As it is the syllabus shall be somewhat adapted for all of you.  I shall arrange for you to receive your new timetables at breakfast tomorrow."

            The group of students sat reeling from these new revelations.  It was too much to take in really it was.  They were all excited though, each supposed they should have been scared because of the changes but they couldn't wait.  The main apprehension came from wondering how the rest of the school would take the news.  As if sensing their apprehension on this Dumbledore spoke again.

            "I shall make an announcement to the rest of the school at this evening's meal.  Now you have an hour before it is time for that and I suggest you get yourselves acquainted with your new rooms and I'll see you all later."

            With that said Dumbledore released the locking charm on the door and swept out of the room. The group sat looking at each other for a minute before Remus shrugged, 

  
            "We'll show you to your rooms then shall we?"

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            The six new members of the house of the Phoenix sat in their common room.  Draco looked by far the most uncomfortable of the lot however Lily had left Harry with instructions to look after him and Draco with instructions to be nice.  They had all been sat in silence for the past ten minutes contemplating their new situation.  Eventually it was Ginny who spoke up:

            "I wonder what Dumbledore meant when he said we were the ones in the most immediate danger?"  The phrase was more of a question than a statement and one that everyone realised she wanted answering.

            Draco eventually spoke up in answer to her question, "Simple really."  he began, "I mean think about it.  First we have Potter.  Mouldy Voldey's been after him for years, why should he let up now.  Dumbledore's had every protection spell possible on him since he was a baby. 

Then we have the Weasley's.  Their family is so into the light that Voldey just wants rid.  Plus there's the added bonus that by getting rid of them he comes one closer to Potter.  

That brings us onto Granger.  By doing her in or capturing her Voldey's got himself closer to the Weasley's and the Potter's.  Danger by association.  

Then there's me.  I just turned traitor.  We all know what Voldey does to traitors don't we?  I for one don't fancy ending up on the wrong end of one of their wands.

As for her," he indicated Caz, "I don't know."

Caz looked at them all.  "I do."  She said quietly.  "It's probably about time I told you all, after all, we're in the same boat and we're going to have to live together for a while.  My father…….he's.  he's……Lucius Malfoy."

Draco's jaw dropped.  "But… he can't be!  He would have told me!  That makes you my sister!  You have to be kidding!  How is that possible??!!"

"Do you want me to draw you a diagram?"  Ron scoffed.

Draco glared at him, "That's not what I meant and you know it."  He sneered.  "I mean why would my father have had an affair?"

"He didn't."  stated Caz.  "Surely you know about the many ways the death eaters inflict torture on their captives.  My mum was kidnapped by them in an attempt to get to Auntie Lily.  Think about it."

  
            Draco gasped, "The Bastard!  I hate him!  How could he do that!  I knew it went on but I guess…  I dunno, I just could never see him being like that."

Caz shook her head "I know.  Mum didn't even know she was pregnant until the day I was born.  Thankfully I look nothing like him."  She paused for a minute in thought, "I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell mum I told you this.  I don't think she ever told anyone about it.  Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius know, but I don't think anyone else does."

Harry looked at her.  "Course we wont.  And don't worry, it doesn't matter who your father is, your still the same person you were half an hour ago.  Now, I think it is time for us to go to dinner."

"Thanx."  Said Caz.  "You have no idea how big a relief it is to hear you say that.

Everyone smiled.  Slowly the group rose to their feet and began to move out of the common room and down towards the great hall.

**********************************************

            The great hall was buzzing.  After the first day of classes everyone was extremely hyped up.  The first years telling anyone who'd listen all about the spells they had performed, the older students still attempting to catch up on two months of summer fun spent away from their friends.  The group of six student, four professors and two guests halted in the doorway, apprehension oozing from them all.  They all looked at each other before taking a mutual deep breath and walking towards the front of the hall.  

Although the four professors had nothing that they themselves should be worried about, they were apprehensive for their friends.  James and Lily were about to present themselves to a room full of people who thought they were dead and the six students were just going to be set up for a lot of singling out by other students.  

As they reached the front of the hall the new members of the house of the Phoenix sat down slowly.  Already all speech in the hall had stopped and everyone was looking at them, James and Lily found themselves somewhat relieved.  As long as everybody was looking at the students no one was looking at them.  

As all twelve of them sat down Dumbledore rose.  He coughed to get attention from the rest of the school.  As everyone looked to him he began his speech,

"I see you have all noticed a change in the set up of the great hall."  He began, "It is my pleasure to announce the addition of a further house to Hogwarts."

Dumbledore waited a few seconds for the hum of whispers to die down before he continued.

"The house of the Phoenix is one of the original Hogwarts houses.  It has not been occupied since the beginnings of Hogwarts and selection for the house is based purely on the discretion of the head teacher.  The house cup competition will be adapted slightly this year to accommodate the new house.  As there are only six members of the house of the Phoenix when it comes time to announce the winning house at the end of the year the number of house points shall be divided by the number of people in the house to give an average, just to be fair."

Dumbledore paused again.  A few people looked indignant at this suggestion.  Many of them were unsure how exactly that would work but took Dumbledore's word for it when he said it would be fair.  Eventually Dumbledore decided to move on to his final point.

"Now I'm sure that some of you have noticed or heard about the arrival of two rather surprising visitors at Hogwarts this year.  James and Lily Potter have come to Hogwarts and shall be remaining here throughout the school year.  I ask that you do not be too nosey in asking questions and do not pester either our guests or the members of the new house.  With that said, enjoy your meals."

There was clattering around the great hall as everyone picked up cutlery and began to pile their plates with food.  However before the first person could lift their forks to their mouths all the lights went out in the great hall.  As the lights went out an ear-splitting scream erupted from Harry's mouth as his scar erupted in intense pain.

Dumbledore turned to those sat at the staff table.  "Voldemort."  Was all he needed to say.

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A/N – Well there we go.  I did it!  2 chapters by the end of Easter!  Woo hoo!!!  So who expected that then?  Suspense!  Yay!  So review and I'll try to get another one out next week.  


	14. The First Face Off

Chapter 14 – The First Face Off

Disclaimer – If you don't know by now then where the hell have you been?!?!

A/N:-  There's some mild language in this chapter.  You have been warned.

Reviewers

A.Dee:  It is a little complicated but it's going somewhere.  It's all linked to the title.

Alison:  Please don't get hyperventilated!  I can't go loosing any readers, who'd 

            review?!?!

Narcissa Malfoy:  Wow!  Thanx for that, talk about a boost in confidence!

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            As suddenly as the lights in the great hall had gone out they returned full force.  There was a few seconds of squinting for everyone as eyes adjusted to the return of the bright light.  It took a minute or two before anyone noticed the visitors at the back of the hall, in fact the first time anyone paid any attention to them was when the first one spoke.

            "What is no one going to offer us anything to eat?  That's very rude don't you think, especially after we came all this way to visit you."

            All faces turned in the direction of the voice.  A group of seven stood at the back of the hall, all of them dressed in death eater robes.  The one in the front seemed taller than the other six and it was obvious that he was the one in charge.  Strangely enough there was no sign of Voldemort anywhere, this confused Harry and made him wonder why his scar had hurt so badly if Voldemort, or Mouldy Voldey as Draco called him ('I'll have to remember to ask him where that one came from' thought Harry) wasn't around.  He soon put the thought out of his mind and turned to more important matters.

            "What do you want?"  Dumbledore addressed the group who were slowly making their way towards the head table.  "Why are you here?  Leave now before I make you."

            Caz noted that that twinkle in Dumbledore's eye that she had already become so accustomed to seeing was missing and the only tone in his voice was that of malice,

            "You know very well what we're here for," Stated the leader, whom Draco had already identified as his father.

            Draco suffered a sudden burst of confidence at that point and decided that it was finally time to do what he'd always wanted, to stand up to his father.  After all, what could Lucius possibly do to him in front of the rest of the school?  "Well we don't always get what we want, so piss off."  It was the first thing that came into his head and he realised how stupid it was as soon as he'd said it, however it was too late.

            "What."  Lucius didn't raise his voice, he didn't need too, the tone he spoke in said it all.  Draco cowered away from him momentarily before regaining his bravery,

            "I said we can't always get what we want.   Plain and simple.  We know who you want and you aren't getting them, we're all happy and staying right here so why don't you go and tell your Lord and Master tha-"

            Lily cut Draco off at that point, not wanting him to anger Lucius more than he already had.  She could see the visiting death eaters fingering their wands, all of them ready to attack in a second.  "I think what your son is trying to say in his own not so subtle way is that you would all do well to leave.  Now."

            Lucius just laughed at that.  "Why don't you make me, sister dearest?"

            Everyone recognised that as the threat it was.  Immediately James, Sirius, Remus, Jen and Abbi had their wands trained on Lucius and his death eaters as did Harry, Caz, Ginny, Ron, Hermione and Draco.  Lucius looked at them all with contempt.

            "And what do you think you can do about anything?"

            At that point Dumbledore decided to take control of the situation before it got too out of hand.  Whilst Lily and Draco had been keeping the attention of Lucius and his death eaters the heads of houses and house prefects had managed to get all the pupils out of the hall.  By this point the only people remaining were the four defence professors, James and Lily, the six members of the house of the Phoenix and Dumbledore himself.  Still they had the comfort of knowing that they had the death eaters out numbered by two to one.

            "Lucius.  Perhaps you and your friends should go back to Voldemort, as Draco suggested, and explain to him that those people on his most wanted list are staying here and that if he wants them, he'll have to come himself."

            James gasped at Dumbledore's statement, just what in Merlin's name did he think he was doing?!  The next sentence also served to shock the occupants of the room,

            "Oh I'm not interested in the people on Voldemort's hit-list.  I couldn't care less at the moment about that. What we are interested in is the traitor I have for a son," he paused and looked at Draco who turned deathly pale.  Then he turned to Caz, an evil glint in his eye that Draco, James and Lily all recognised as a very bad sign, "and the dirty whore that is my daughter."  He paused to take in the shocked expressions on everyone's faces, and then completed his speech.  "it's a shame you're so much like your mother's side of the family."  He stated, "Still, we'll soon see if we can't teach you to be a Malfoy."

            Throughout this speech Lucius had slowly advanced towards Caz.  Upon his last word he reached the table and gently ran a finger down her cheek.  She flinched away from him.

            "You're NOT my father."  She spat venomously, "I have no father."

            Lucius looked at her with contempt.  "Just like your mother aren't you.  She was a hard one to crack.  But we did it.  Had her crying like a baby.  Just wait my girl.  You'll see."

            He turned to Dumbledore.  "We have to be going now," then he added, with dripping sarcasm, "thank you SO much for your hospitality.  I'm sure we'll be back soon."

            Finally he turned to his son.  "I'd sleep with one eye open Draco.  Voldemort doesn't like traitors but what he's got planned is nothing compared to what's going to happen to you when I get my hands on you.  I couldn't care less about you refusing the mark, what really upsets me is how you turned on your own family, think about it."

            With that the seven death eaters did the impossible.  They apparated right out of the great hall.

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            Two hours later a group of very sombre people sat round the fire in the lounge room of what had now been named 'The Marauders Maison'.   They had been sat there since soon after breakfast, hardly speaking a word to each other except for the conversation which had led to the naming of the suite.  Dumbledore had cancelled the day's lessons as soon as he had left the great hall, knowing full well that none of the students would feel like working and none of the professors would feel like teaching.

            Finally deciding that two full hours of silence was more than enough Harry spoke.

            "Are we gonna sit around here moping all day?  We're acting like what happened this morning was the end of the world.  Newsflash:  It wasn't.  Now I don't know about you lot but I don't intend spending the rest of my life waiting for a bunch of crazed lunatics to kill me!"  He paused for a second. He had been growing steadily louder throughout his outburst and he sat catching his breath.  After a couple of seconds of allowing himself to breathe he turned to everyone else again, "Sorry. I didn't mean it, I just really needed to yell at someone."

            James smiled at his son.  "Don't worry about it."  He said.

            Caz on the other hand thought differently.  "You don't get it do you?  You aren't the centre of this anymore.  The whole world doesn't revolve around you Harry!  So what if Voldemort wants to kill you!  You've got out of there before and you can probably do it again!  What about the rest of us?!  For once in your life stop thinking about yourself and consider someone else for a change!"

            With that she got up and stormed out of the room.  Draco was the only one to see the tears in her eyes as she left.  His brotherly instincts kicked in and before anyone else had the chance to respond he got up and ran out of the room after her.  Harry looked around the room,

            "What the hell did I say?!"  He asked incredulously "How the hell did I provoke that one?"

            All the males in the room looked about as confused as Harry sounded.  The five females looked at each other, each with amusement in their eyes. Jen, seeing panic rising in Harry's eyes decided to enlighten him,

            "Don't worry Harry, she isn't mad at you.  Just give her a while to calm down; what happened this morning was one hell of a shock for her, it's going to take her a while to calm down."

            "Fir the life of me I will never understand women."  Said Harry dejectedly.

            "Welcome to the club."  Sirius, James and Remus all chorused before bursting into fits of laughter.  Very soon all the others had joined in and before they knew it the looming dark mood of five minutes earlier had passed, leaving them all in extremely hyper moods.

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            Caz ran.  She didn't have a clue where she was going, just that she needed to get away from everyone.  She needed to be alone, to think, to cry, and just to let all her guards down, to be herself for a while and not the person she was pretending to be.  

            Sure, she had them all convinced that she was fine.  That she was coping with everything, that Lucius Malfoy didn't scare her, that she didn't feel somewhat threatened by all the new people around her.

            Eventually she found herself in the astronomy tower.  As soon as she was there she collapsed against the wall, sobs racking her body as she cried her heart out.  She didn't hear the footsteps on the stairs or the door creaking open.  The first thing she knew of Draco's presence was when she felt his warm embrace surround her.  Then she heard him whispering in her ear, comforting her, telling her not to cry.  Slowly she calmed down and looked up into his eye's, the eye's of the big brother she'd always wanted,

            "Thanks."  She said, followed by a sniff.  Eventually she spoke again, "Why did you follow me?"  She asked.

            He smiled at her.  "Figured you might want a shoulder to cry on."  He paused, "It's a typical Malfoy trait you know."

            "What is?"  She asked after a few seconds.

            "Bottling up all your emotions.  Showing the world a tough exterior whilst you're dying inside.  Kidding everyone into thinking your happy when really all you want to do is cry yourself to sleep every single night."  He looked thoughtful for a second, considering if he should carry on or not, finally he won his inner battle.  

"I always used to think that I only did it because it was what I was taught.  Father always used to tell me emotions were a weakness, one we didn't need.  And I believed him.  Like a fool I believed him.  But I realised something just then, when I saw you like that.  It isn't what I was taught that made me that way.  It's something deeper; you just need to learn to control it.  It's ok to cry in front of people, to let them see who you really are.  It's not a weakness at all."

With that said, for only the second time he could remember doing it in front of someone else, Draco Malfoy broke down and cried.

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            30 minutes later the door of The Marauders Maison swung open and Draco and Caz walked in.  In actual fact Draco swaggered in slightly ahead of Caz who shuffled slowly with her eyes trained on the floor.  As the door slammed shut Caz looked up and her eyes met Harry's.

            "Sorry."  She said in a near whisper.  "I didn't mean to yell at you, I just lost it for a moment.  I didn't mean any of that."  Before Harry had a chance to respond she turned to Jen, "Mum, can we talk?"  She asked.

            Jen looked at her daughter and smiled.  "Yeah, come on then."  As Caz and Jen left the room for the privacy of Jen's own room all eyes turned to Draco.  He stood there looking at them for a second, taunting them by withholding the answers they wanted.  Finally when he realised they were getting impatient he spoke;

            "What?!  She's my sister, she was upset, I went after her, we talked, we cried, we came back, everyone's happy."  With that he flounced off towards the boys dormitory leaving some very shocked people behind.   
  


            "Did he just say what I think he just said?"  Asked Ron after a moment's silence.

            "I dunno, what do you think he said?"  Asked Hermione.

            "Believe it or not you lot."  Interjected Lily.  "At times, Draco has been known to cry."  Then more quietly, almost as if to herself she added, "Although I never thought I'd see the day he admitted to it in front of this many people."

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            Jen sat down on the edge of her bed, patting the spot next to her for Caz to sit there with her.  Caz sat, avoiding her mother's gaze for all she was worth.  She wasn't sure what she was going to say or how she was going to say it but Draco was right, she really needed to talk to her mum.

            "Mum," She started, figuring it was a good place to begin.  "You know that…thing…I do?"  She paused, waiting for her mum to acknowledge that she knew what she was talking about, upon getting no reaction she continued, "You know, when I bottle everything up and don't tell anyone what is bothering me for ages then spend hours crying over nothing?"

            Jen smiled at her daughter, "Yes I do.  Come on then, what's bothering you?" she knew something had been wrong, she'd been waiting months for this conversation, ever since Sirius had shown up on their door step back in January, fresh from Dumbledore's missions and looking for a place to hide out.

            Caz looked at her mum, eye's full of tears once again.  "I don't know; everything and nothing."  She sighed; this was going to be harder than she thought.  "I guess I should start at the beginning shouldn't I?"

            Jen grinned at her, "It's a very good place to start."  She said, a hint of humour in her voice.

            Caz rolled her eyes.  "You've seen 'The Sound of Music' one too many times."  She commented, "I guess this all started when Uncle Sirius showed up in January."

            Jen nodded.  "I thought so.  Alright, tell me everything and I promise not to interrupt until you're done."  That said she put an arm round her daughter in a protective parental manner and waited for Caz to begin.

            "As I said, it started when Uncle Sirius showed up.  It sounds really childish but I was jealous.  I was used to getting all the attention from you and Uncle Remus but then uncle Sirius was there as well and he needed your attention and I felt pushed out.  I was just getting over that and getting used to having all three of you fussing over me when you decided that Harry had to come stay as well."  She paused.  She already felt really guilty for feeling like this.  She looked at her mum and realised that she needed to continue.  

"Don't get me wrong.  I've got nothing against Harry.  It just took me a while to get used to it.  I've always been used to being an only child.  Suddenly Harry was there and I was sharing my attention again and I felt threatened by it.  I figured at least in September he'd come back to school and I'd have you all to myself again."

Jen smiled.  "It didn't work like that though did it?"  She asked.  "I'm really sorry love.  We should have told you a lot sooner that we'd enrolled you in Hogwarts.  And we should have told both you and Harry that we were teaching.  I'm sorry."

Caz shrugged her shoulders and looked into her mum's eyes.  "Why should you be sorry?  All I wanted since I was 11 was to come to Hogwarts with other kids my age, to make friends, to just be normal.  Now it's happened and I'm SO happy.  I'm surrounded by people who love me, I've finally met my brother and he's accepted me.  I don't know why I'm so upset!"

She paused for a second, blinking back the tears that threatened to pour down her cheeks.  "I'm so messed up."  She sniffed.

"Never say that again."  Jen interrupted.  "You are anything but messed up."

Caz sniffed again and shook her head.  "But I am messed up.  I know I am, why else would I be so confused?"  

Jen shook her head, thinking that Caz was speaking rubbish.  Caz looked thoughtful.  "Draco recons that this is hereditary."  She looked into her mum's eyes again and realised that once again Jen didn't have a clue what she was talking about.  "The whole bottling up emotions thing.  He recons it's a Malfoy thing.  Maybe he's right, I dunno.  When I ran out earlier, he followed me.  We ended up in the astronomy tower.  We talked for a while.  Both of us ended up crying.  It felt so good to be able to talk to someone who understood."  She grinned through the tears that were now slowly making their way down her cheeks.

Jen smiled at her daughter and hugged her closer.  "I was worried about the two of you meeting."  She admitted eventually.  "You know Remus taught him in third year.  From what he'd told me and from what Sirius said Harry'd told him I thought you'd hate each other.  I didn't know what was going on with him really."

Caz looked teary eyed at her mum.  "You needn't have been."  She started.  "Where's he going to go during the school holidays?"  She asked.  "There's no way that he can go home.  You heard Lucius threatening him earlier."  Then in a quieter voice she added, "He told me earlier, Lucius used to beat him when he was little.  Not just the regular smacks on the backside like most kids get either.  He told me that Lucius used to use the unforgivables on him if he stepped out of line."

Jen gasped.  "Don't worry.  He's not going back there."  She reassured her daughter.  "Whatever happens he won't be going back there."

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A/N:-  All right, I admit it.  Caz is based so much on me, in this chapter she practically is me!  She has the same problems I do (Except my father is NOT Lucius Malfoy and I have a father who does love me, even if he has a wired way of showing it.  Oh yeah, and I'm not an only child.  My need for attention stems from the fact that I have a little sister who thinks she's the centre of the universe and manages to convince my parents of that nine times out of ten.)  One thing that she has got better than me is the fact that all the people around her are willing to listen to her and try and help her sort it out.  Everyone around me is more interested in their self-pity than in mine (OK, I'll stop sounding so sorry for myself now!)  Back to the point.  Caz is a very unstable person.  That'll come through more in later chapters.  

A word of advice for all you kiddies out there – Never let everything get on top of you.  Feeling suicidal because you're too proud to show anyone that you're human and cry in front of them is a really stupid idea and it only causes deeper problems, believe me.  I've been there and I've got too many friends who have tried to do stupid things like that.  (I didn't try it, I just thought about it.)

This chapter wasn't quite as long as the last two but I'm having writer's block.  I know where this is going, I'm just not sure how I'm getting there yet.

I was lacking in reviews last time.  SOMEONE SEND ME SOME REVIEWS!!!!!  And while you're at it I could do with some advice.  What do you want to see happen here?  I'll do you a deal.  If I get 5 reviews by the weekend, I'll update once a fortnight during my study leave (Which starts next week.)  10 reviews by the weekend, once a week.  20 reviews by the weekend = twice a week etc etc etc.  The more reviews the more the updates.  

Katie-Catherine

    -x-x-x-


	15. Some Sembalence of Normality

Chapter 15 – Some Semblance of Normality

Disclaimer – They don't belong to me.  I don't earn anything from this, etc etc etc.

A/N:- Ok.  Next chapter.  I'm a lot calmer now than I was at the end of the last one.  Let's put all that down to exam stress.  It is that time of year after all.  This is going somewhere.  I have the rest of the story outlined it's just a case of writing something to fit that out line.

Now I have an appeal.  I need a volunteer to be my guinea pig.  Little sis wont do it anymore and I want someone to bounce ideas off of whilst I write and to read chapters for me before I post them to check for silly mistakes and things I haven't spotted.  If you want to volunteer then send me an email at Cazza416@hotmail.com Thanx.

Reviewers:

Only one review this time, I'm hurt!!  Special thanks to Alison though for her review – don't worry. I have no intention of stopping!!

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            Lessons resumed first thing the following morning.  Breakfast was a non event, continuing as normal for most people as if the previous day had never happened.  

For the six students sat next to the head table breakfast was a rushed affair.  After the previous afternoons excitement the six students had sat down together and talked.  They'd been up well into the early hours of the morning and by the time they had gotten to bed Draco felt somewhat more accepted by the group of Gryffindor's and Caz felt more at ease amongst them.  All in all everyone had cheered up somewhat.  

This didn't come without a cost as they had all discovered.  Two hours sleep was definitely not good for you.  All of them were like walking zombies.

At the end of breakfast Dumbledore walked over to them.

"I'm glad to see you all made it to breakfast.  From what I've heard you didn't exactly sleep much last night."  He grinned at them all, remembering the story he had heard over breakfast from four rather groggy professors who obviously didn't remember quite how loud they themselves had been as fifteen year olds.  "I just thought I'd let you know that your first lesson is going to take place in your library.  I have a few things to attend to first so it'll start a little late; I think you've probably got about an hour."

He smiled at the four teens that looked glad at an extra hour they had to wake up before their first class.  Suddenly there was a yell from the far end of the Gryffindor table.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!!!!!!!!!"  The whole of the great hall heard.  "CHANGE HER BACK THIS INSTANT"

Dumbledore cast one last glance at the six students before him before walking off towards the site of the disturbance.

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            45 minutes later Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Caz sat round a table in their small private library.  None of them knew what their first lesson was to be.  After the fiasco the previous morning they had not received their timetables.  That fact had completely escaped everyone's mind until breakfast that morning when Dumbledore had spoken to them.

            They were all rather nervous however Ginny had to beat the lot of them.  She was trembling like a leaf and looked pale as a sheet.  Ron wasn't quite sure whether this was due to the fact that she was surrounded by fifth years, because she had been promoted by a year and was worried about the classes or because she was sat in between Harry and Draco.  Both of whom he knew she had crushes on.

            He didn't have very long to contemplate that for though as just then the door flew open and a very bedraggled looking Lily and James ran in looking as if they had just run all the way from the other side of the school, which in fact they had.

            They took seats at the table with the six students and James and Lily grinned at them all.

            "Good morning students."  Lily started out with enthusiasm.  "My name is Professor Potter and this," She indicated James, "Is Professor Potter."  A grin spread across her face as she observed the reactions of those sat around the table. James wasn't quite so quiet.  He burst out laughing. 

            "You lot should see your faces right about now!"  He exclaimed

            Indeed it was a funny sight.  All six of them looked torn between humour and shock with a little fear thrown in for good measure.  

            Draco recovered the power of speech first.  "You two?!" he asked incredulously.  "Why you?  How come?  I thought Dumbledore was going to be teaching us!"  
  
            "What do you mean _Why you?????"  James asked.  "We not good enough for the almighty House of the Phoenix?"_

            Draco quickly attempted to rectify his error.  "No that's not what I meant.  We just……" he frowned, unsure of exactly how he was going to talk his way out of this one.  

Lily raised her eyebrows at him.  "Keep talking Draco, I'd like to hear this."  She grinned as she watched him squirm.

Finally after a couple of minutes of watching Draco's discomfort Caz decided to come to his rescue.  "He means that it's a nice surprise.  We weren't expecting it; we all thought professor Dumbledore was teaching us."  

Draco flashed Caz a grateful smile and she smirked at him.  Lily observed the exchange with interest, smiling inwardly that the two siblings had accepted each other so easily.  She had expected a lot more awkwardness between the two of them and had been very surprised the previous night when Jen had told her about Caz's concerns for Draco.

James looked around.  "Now we've got that sorted, timetables."  He handed each of them a small sheet of paper each, detailing their lessons for each day.  "All the lessons you have with us are here unless we tell you otherwise.  The lessons with Dumbledore you will need to meet here then he'll take you somewhere else.  Any lessons with anyone else will be in their classrooms except with Madame Pomfrey you will be in the hospital wing. Any questions?"

They all sat in silence for a few minutes looking over the questions before the questions started to flood out.  The first one came from Hermione.

"Why do we all have to do all the electives?  Isn't that going to be sort of confusing if we didn't do things last year?"

Lily answered that question.  "Quite simply, No.  That's why you have two of us teaching you most of them.  You've all done care of magical creatures so you can continue that normally.  The others at least one of you has done each but you haven't all done them.  We didn't want any of you to have to give up anything so we worked it this way.  Between James and me we did all of them whilst we were at school so the one of us who did that subject can work with anyone who already studies it and the one who didn't can pick it up whilst teaching the others who haven't been studying it."  

She paused to see if that satisfied Hermione's query.  While Hermione looked satisfied Caz looked less than happy.  "Caz, I know you haven't been covering Care of Magical Creatures so you can either go to those lessons anyway and try to pick it up, or you can just have that lesson off.  It's up to you; you've got until the first lesson to give it some thought."

Harry voiced the next few questions all in one sentence.  "What is Magical Medicine and Healing, why are we learning to apparate when we are underage and what exactly does it mean by survival skills?"  He asked.

James took up the answer.  "First Magical Medicine and Healing is just that.  It's a part of every aurors basic training and everyone is in agreement that, in light of your situations it is a good idea for you lot to learn it now as well."

He continued with the next question.  "Secondly, you are learning to apparate for your own safety.  If you find yourself in danger it will be a lot more pleasant for you if you can apparate out of there before there are any large problems."  

He carried on answering Harry's final question.  "Linked to that is survival skills.  If you find yourself in trouble and you cant escape from it you are going to need to know how to keep the situation in hand.  That is probably going to be the most difficult lesson as one of the things on the syllabus for the year is handling pain."  

Seeing the look of fear on everyone's face he decided to continue with an explanation.  "If you find yourself surrounded by death eaters at some point which you all know is wholly possible, it's inevitable that they will try to hurt you.  If you've been trained to ward off that pain then you are going to last out a whole lot longer and have a much better chance.  People get bored very quickly when they can't get a reaction out of you."

They all sat in silence for a few more moments taking in what they had just been told.  Eventually another question was sounded, this time from Ginny. 

"What's advanced self defence?"

"Exactly that."  Answered Lily.  "It's self defence that's just a little more advanced than what you'll all be doing with Jen and Sirius."

Finally Draco asked the final question.  "We don't have to call you 'professor' do we?"  He asked with a grin on his face.

Everyone laughed at this comment and Lily answered with a smile on her face.  "No.  Not if you don't want to.  In front of the rest of the school you should call Jen, Remus, Sirius and Abbi professor but in private and with us two don't bother.  I think you might be pushing it though if you tried calling Snape or Dumbledore by their first names."

Everyone burst into fits of laughter at the thought of the look on Snape's face if they were to try and call him 'Severus' in class.  They sat there for a while longer, talking about nothing in particular before James looked at his watch.

"Blimey.  It's nearly 11 o'clock!  We've been talking for ages; it's probably about time we did some actual work, after all, it's only half an hour until break time and if you don't learn anything today the Dumbledore is likely to sack us!"

Lily just looked at her husband.  "James.  Two questions. Since when have you cared about learning things?  And, blimey?  Where the hell did you get that one from??"  
  


James pointed at Draco.  "Blame him.  I have spent way to much time with him, I'm picking up his speech patterns for God's sakes.   And secondly, I don't care about learning things," he winked at the six kids sat around the table, "Just about keeping my job.  It's nice to be back at Hogwarts, I don't want to have to leave."

Everyone laughed again and Lily rolled her eyes at him.  "Ever the comedian aren't you."  She joked playfully.  "But I suppose you have a point, we should do something useful."

Everyone groaned collectively, all having hoped they could keep this conversation going until break time (excluding Hermione who was looking wistfully at the transfiguration section of the library as if she couldn't wait to get started.) 

James decided at that point that he should follow his wife's lead.  "Alright then.  Go get your textbooks and then read the first page of chapter one.  Ginny, there's a pile of fifth year books on your bed for you."

As the six of them headed towards their dorm rooms to collect their books they were having a variety of different thoughts.  Harry, Ron and Draco were all wondering how long they could manage to take to collect one textbook.  Ginny was wondering where her new books had come from, Hermione was trying to work out when she could start exploring the new library and Caz was thinking that maybe being at Hogwarts wasn't going to be all that bad after all.  
  


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            By the time that everyone had gotten back with their books it had been break time, much to Hermione's dismay.  James and Lily had dismissed them and they had gone into the common room to discover that one of the house elves had bought up a tray of cookies and milk for them to snack on.

            After break had come and gone it came time for their first divination.  Neither Draco, Ginny or Caz had done the subject before and Hermione had only taken it for those few months in third year so whilst Lily, who hadn't taken it in school either, worked with them from the textbook James worked with Harry and Ron.  

Really they weren't working at all but sharing divination horror stories.  Harry discovered that he wasn't the only one who seemed to die on a regular basis in divination but James and Sirius had also been known to and for the entire five years he had taken the subject Remus was told about the terrible secret which haunted him.  Apparently Trelawney's predecessor hadn't known about Remus' lycanthropy.

After divination came lunch time.  When they got down to the great hall they noticed that they were receiving looks from half the school, who all seemed to wonder what made the six of them so special compared to everyone else.  They'd gotten these looks ever time they'd been to the great hall since Dumbledore had made the announcement and were getting used to it but still it was weird.

Draco was getting it worst.  The Slytherin's seemed to have taken it as a personal insult that he had suddenly befriended a group of ex-Gryffindor's and were going out of their way whenever he was within hearing distance to make rather loud comments about it.  It seemed as well that Crabbe and Goyle had quickly spread the word about Draco's behaviour in the self defence auditorium that Monday. 

However still lunch passed without any great hiccoughs and soon enough the six students found themselves in the defence against the dark arts classroom with Remus and Abbi. 

 Jen, Lily, Sirius and James had started out sat in the back of the classroom but after five minutes of attempting to start the lesson, only to be thwarted by one of the four in the back who were insisting on sending comical curses at the two professors in front of the classroom every few seconds.

Eventually Remus and Abbi got fed up of being target practice and threw the other four out of the classroom, but not before they both ended up with bright pink and purple hair and neon yellow robes.

Once the four pranksters had been kicked out and order had once again been restored to the defence classroom the lesson began.

There was a rather full syllabus organised for them for the year with a lot of back up material on hand should they pick things up faster than anticipated.  One thing was for certain.  No one expected them to slack off this year.  

The first thing they were to start with that year was patroni*, this made Harry relax a little, it looked like he would get it easy for a few weeks at least.  Apparently that was just wishful thinking.  Remus allowed for the fact that he could already cast a patronus and decided that he could work on strengthening it and then put in some research into patronus charms. 

After a brief introduction to the patronus charm Remus asked Harry to demonstrate for the others.  Ron and Hermione had of course already seen it but none the less were shocked when instead of the silver stag that usually came forth, both a stag and a phoenix made of silver mist with golden streaks shot out of Harry's wand and circled the room a few times before slowly starting to disappear.

The eight occupants of the room sat in a stunned silence.  It was Remus who finally broke it.

"I'm guessing you found an even happier memory then Harry?"  He asked humorously.  "It doesn't surprise me.   Well done though, that's one of the best I've seen."

Harry beamed at him.  Remus was certainly right; he did have a very happy memory.  Quite a number of them in fact.  Finding out his parents were alive, finding out Sirius had been declared innocent, learning he never had to return to the Dursley's, all of these just gave more and more added power to his patronus.  It amazed him.

Throughout the rest of the class Harry sat scanning textbooks which talked about the patronus whilst Ron, Draco, Hermione, Ginny and Caz all tried to cast patroni.  By the end of the lesson all of them were getting silver mist but nothing was taking shape.  Still they were all happy that they were doing well. 

***************************************************

            After defence against the dark arts was over the six of them, accompanied by Remus and Abbi headed down towards the self defence auditorium.  As they walked in to the auditorium laughter filled their ears.  It was then that Remus and Abbi realised that they were still interesting colours.  Remus glared at the four adults in the room.  

            "Will you four never grow up?"  He asked, humour hidden in his voice.

            "I dunno Moony, how about we think about it and get back to you.  After all we have a lot of lost time to make up for."  Said Sirius, mischief evident in his tone.

            Behind the six students Harry heard Abbi mumble, "That's what I was afraid of."  She said, more to herself than to anyone else in the room.

            Harry's face cracked into a grin at that however he didn't have anymore time to think about it as it seemed that Jen and Sirius were both eager to start the lesson.

            James, Lily, Abbi and Remus took seats at the back of the room.  This time there was a lack of flying spells and this meant that it was safe to try and learn something.

            Sirius and Jen started by explaining that the first thing they were learning was going to be shield spells, much like the rest of the school only they were going to be slightly more advanced.  
  


            The class went well, all of them picked up the easier shields quickly and by the end of their first lesson they were well into some of the advanced shield spells.  Harry and Caz were by far finding it the easiest as they had already started on shield spells in the extra lessons they had been having over the summer.

            As soon as the class had started it was over and they all headed down to the great hall for dinner, once again ignoring the looks and comments aimed at them by others.

            One thing that hadn't gone unnoticed was the lack of hostility from the Gryffindor's.  In particular from the fifth year Gryffindor's.  They seemed to be the only ones making an effort to still be nice to the six of them. Even with Draco they seemed to be making an effort not to taunt him as they had done in previous years.  

After dinner a quick conversation had taken place between the six Phoenix House members and the remaining 5th year Gryffindor boys.  In that conversation Dean, Seamus and Neville had quickly accepted Draco to be 'nice' but had literally had only 2 minutes to talk to their friends before six rather hyperactive and mischievous professors made their presence known by turning the robes of the group of students Slytherin green.

Draco was the only one who didn't really react to that, merely shrugged his shoulders and continued with what he was saying.  The rest of the group however, didn't react quite so well.

Whilst the six marauders stood there in fits of laughter Harry and Caz, having been nominated by everyone else for the job on the grounds that it was their family, tried desperately to persuade them to change them back.  

"Please, don't make us stay like this!"  Begged Harry.  "Do you know how mean that would be?!  Imagine the humiliation!"

"If you won't change us back then at least let those three go with some dignity."  Haggled Caz, "We have all night to convince you how nasty this is, they have to go back up to Gryffindor tower!"

Eventually it was Remus who gave in.  "Alright."  He said, "I'll let them go, but you lot don't get away with it that easily.  Do the colours pink, purple and yellow mean anything to you?"  

"But that wasn't us Moony, it was them!"  Whined Caz pointing at her mother, uncle and godparents behind him.

"Oh I know."  Said Remus, a predatory gleam in his eyes.

With that he turned around and quick as a flash the four, aforementioned professors were all in robes of Slytherin green and silver and wearing rather large signs on their backs which flashed various phrases all declaring how wonderful Slytherin house really was.  Following that he restored the three Gryffindor's to their previous states and left with a swoosh of his robes.

Dean, Seamus and Neville retreated soon after as James, Lily, Jen and Sirius stood there speechless whilst the others all laughed their heads off at them.  All too soon the four of them came to their senses and made a break to get to their room before anyone could see them.

**********************************

            30 minutes later everyone was back in the 'Marauder's Maison'.  While Remus and Abbi stood laughing everybody else was busy trying to plead their cases as to why they should have their clothing changed back.

            Eventually after 10 minutes of begging James had a sudden realisation.  He turned to Sirius.

            "Hey, Siri?"

            "Yes Jamie?"  Sirius replied, automatically reverting back to the names they always used as kids when they were up to no good.

            "Do you remember when we were in sixth year and Remy decided that he was going to give us both long blonde pig-tails?"  He asked in a sing song voice that told Remus he was in trouble.  "And then he decided to go one further and transfigure our entire wardrobes into dresses so that was all we had to wear for a week?"

            "I believe I do Jamie.  Would you be suggesting what I thing you are suggesting?  Because if you are then I believe that it would be a very good idea.  I also believe it would be best for the sweet and innocent children to DUCK!"

            No sooner had Sirius completed his sentence than James, Remus and Sirius all sent hexes flying at each other.  Within seconds a full scale magical prank war had broken out amongst the twelve inhabitants of the room.  Curses, hexes, charms and other spells were flying everywhere, changing the colour, size and appearance of anything that got in the way.  

            The laughter of the inhabitants of the room could be heard from half way down the corridor outside as they shrieked whilst dodging various spells.  Within 5 minutes they were all thoroughly worn out and collapsed onto the various sofas and armchairs around the room all breathing heavily and grinning from ear to ear.

            Lily looked around the room.  "Game over."  She declared.  "Finite Incantatem."

            With that said everyone in the room returned to their former appearances.  Everyone, that was, except Remus.  

            Remus sat there completely oblivious to his new green afro or the pink love heart with 'RL 4 SS' written inside it which was floating above his head. 

            As everyone else in the room began to notice the one spell which hadn't been undone the snickering  started.  Remus sat wondering what was going on before he finally caught sight of his reflection in a nearby mirror.

            "POTTER!  BLACK!" he yelled.  

            James and Sirius looked at him and burst into fresh waves of laughter before James muttered the counter curse and Remus returned to his former appearance.  He looked at his friends with mock anger, scowled and muttered his thanks for the removal of the curse.

            After that little episode was over they all sat round engaging in conversation about nothing and everything, much like they had done the previous day.

**********************************

            The following morning dawned bright and breezy, just as any autumn day should and found everyone sat in the great hall at breakfast, rather more awake than they had been the previous morning.

            A flurry of movement overhead announced the arrival of the post and owls circled around the hall dropping letters and parcels into the laps of students and teachers alike.  

            Hermione was rather surprised to find a letter dropped into her own lap.  She was even more surprised when she got into the envelope and found another envelope inside it.  This envelope however, was addressed and stamped in the muggle way which made her curious as her parents were the only ones who ever wrote to her at school and they had bought an owl back in the summer after her first year just so they could keep in touch with their daughter whilst she was at school.

            She opened the envelope full of curiosity, wondering who could be sending her mail in the muggle way that would know where to send it and also wondering how the muggle post office would have known what to do with it.

            As she read the letter her face fell.  Slowly the expression of disappointment turned to one of worry and finally to one of pure anger.  Without a word to anyone she got up, still clutching the letter in her hand, and fled the Great Hall.

**********************************

* patronuses? patronae?  What IS the plural of patronus????????

A/N:  One more chapter down and things are heating up.  What's with Hermione?  What _exactly_ do these new subjects entail? And why am I having such bad writers block lately??  Could it have something to do with the fact that I was watching the 'Eurovision Song Contest' as I _tried to write this chapter??  Find out in the next chapter._


	16. ANish Timetable for House of Phoenix

 Timetable for the House of the Phoenix

  
Just for general information and to give a little help in following the story I thought that I would post a copy of Harry et al's timetable.  Professors in charge are in brackets ( ) after the lesson title.  Because of the events happening at Hogwarts they all stated their lessons as the House of the Phoenix on a Wednesday but lessons officially started on a Monday.

**Monday:**

**8am: Breakfast**

**9am: Transfiguration (James and Lily)**

**10.15am: Charms (James and Lily)**

**11.30am: Break**

**12pm: Care of Magical Creatures (Hagrid)**

**1pm: Lunch**

**2pm: Defence against the Dark Arts (Remus and Abbi)**

**3.30pm: Self Defence (Jen and Sirius)**

**5pm: Dinner and Free Time**

**Tuesday:**

  
**8am**: Breakfast

**9am: Potions (Snape)**

**10.15am: History of Magic (James and Lily)**

**11.30am: Break**

**12pm: Arithmancy (James and Lily)**

**1pm: Lunch**

**2pm: Magical Medicine and Healing (Madame Pomfrey)**

**3.30pm: Apparation and Survival Skills (Dumbledore)**

**5pm: Dinner and Free Time  
  
  
**

**Wednesday:**

****

**8am: Breakfast**

**9am: Herbology (Sprout)**

**10.15am: Transfiguration (James and Lily)**

**11.30am: Break**

**12pm: Divination (James and Lily)**

**1pm: Lunch**

**2pm: Defence against the Dark Arts (Remus and Abbi)**

**3.30pm: Self Defence (Jen and Sirius)**

**5pm: Dinner and Free Time**

**Thursday:**

**  
****8am**: Breakfast

**9am: History of Magic (James and Lily)**

**10.15am: Advanced Self Defence (James, Lily and Dumbledore)**

**11.30am: Break**

**12pm: Muggle Studies (James and Lily)**

**1pm: Lunch**

**2pm: Magical Medicine and Healing (Madame Pomfrey)**

**3.30pm: Survival Skills (Dumbledore, James and Lily)**

**5pm: Dinner and Free Time**

****

****

**Friday:**

****

**8am: Breakfast**

**9am: Charms (James and Lily)**

**10.15am: Apparation (Dumbledore)**

**11.30am: Break**

**12pm: Potions (Snape)**

**1pm: Lunch**

**2pm: Defence against the Dark Arts (Remus and Abbi)**

**3.30pm: Self Defence (Jen and Sirius)**

**5pm: Dinner and Free Time**

****

***The lesson times may not seem right to some people but they are based on the way we do it where I go to school.***

A/N  well I made a rather large mistake – forgot Herbology!! You may have noticed that there is no an Ancient Runes or Astronomy.  My view is that they aren't important so they aren't on the timetable.


	17. And We're off Again

Chapter 16 – And we're off again.

Disclaimer – If I owned them then do you really think I'd be posting this here??

A/N:-  At the bottom.

Reviewers:

**Yuji-Kun**:  thanks – sorry it took so long to update!!

**Dumbledore-2003**:  thanks for the encouragement!!!!!!

**Slayer-faith**:  thank you.  I much prefer Draco being nice, and I really wanted to write James, Remus and Sirius together as adults!!!

**Elliel8**:  thankyou!!!  What more is there to be said??  Read the authors not about the keep on writing thing!

***********************************

            Everyone stared as Hermione fled the great hall. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and everyone could hear her gasping for breath around strangled sobs.  No-one made a move t go after her.  The sight of a distraught Hermione was something no-one was used to seeing and even Harry and Ron, who knew her better than anyone, didn't have a clue what to do.

            At the head table six professors in particular looked very worried.  They all sat in silence for a few minutes before Lily, Jen and Abbi came to a silent agreement, rose from their seats and left the great hall in search of Hermione.

**********************************

            Hermione threw herself onto her bed and allowed the sobs to overtake her body.  She simply could not believe that this was happening to her.  

            She read the letter she had received again and again.  Why her?  Why now?  Suddenly a fit of rage ran through her veins and she couldn't control herself.  She screwed the letter up into a ball and threw it across the room as hard as she could.

            Lily opened the door to the girls' dorm and promptly got hit by a flying piece of paper.  She bent down and picked it up.  Silently she read over the letter, her eyes widening as she read. 

            When she was done she passed the letter to Abbi and Jen behind her before crossing the room door and scooping Hermione up into her arms, gently rocking her back and forth until the sobbing subsided slightly.

Jen and Abbi hovered just inside the doorway to the dorm.  Jen very quietly read the letter to Abbi, 

_Dearest __Hermione__,_

It began,

_How are you?  I hope all is well for you and your friends, that your grades are good and that you are not getting yourselves into too much trouble.  Your father and I are doing well.  We spent a lovely week in __Wales__ this summer.  Going to __France__ as usual did not seem right without you being there with us._

_How was your summer?  I don't think we've heard from you since the middle of august, it's strange not to have our little girl in touch constantly as we used to.  It seems you are growing up.  _

_The summer has provided your father and I with some time to think.  Over the last year we have joined a local church.  The people there are all very nice, there are lots of children your age that we had hoped to be able to introduce you to this summer however that, for obvious reasons was not an option._

"Is this going where I think it is going?"  Abbi asked Jen.  "Because if it is then I don't like it."

Jen nodded in agreement.  "I sincerely hope it isn't.  We've been there once; we don't need to go through all that again."  
  


_Hermione.  We know how much you love your school and your friends there but we have come to an important decision.  We would like you to come home.  _

_We don't mean this as a visit or even as a temporary measure.  We want you home for good.  All this talk of magic and witchcraft is evil.  We don't want our only daughter spending an eternity in hell.  We want you to be happy and in order for that to happen you must come home._

_Let me tell you this now.  This isn't open for discussion.  We are doing this simply for your own good.  We wish you to cut all ties with people at this school and others of their kind.  Please come home now love before it is too late to save you._

_We have written a letter to your head teacher, sent in the normal way as this letter was.  We have informed him of our desire to take you out of school and intend to do so anyway, with or without his per[YUN1] __mission._

_We shall allow you until the end of October to get everything in order and get ready to leave and we shall pick you up from Kings Cross on November 1st as if it were the end of term._

_Understand, Hermione that this is for your own sake.  You need to be taken away from this evil before it gets a hold of you and you become un-saveable.  Please Hermione, don't hate us for this._

_Write back and let us know you received this letter so that we may enrol you in a school near to us,_

_Love,_

_Mum._

**

            "Oh hell."  Said Jen.  "First Lil's and now Hermione.  When will muggles learn?"

            Abbi just shook her head.  "Don't ask."  Then after some consideration she continued, "They aren't all that naive.  It's just a misconception spread by some."  
  


            As Hermione's tears calmed she looked up at Lily.

            "Why?"  She asked quietly, "They've never shown any signs of not wanting me here before.  Why now?"

            Lily pulled her closer to her.  "Some muggles Hermione, just don't understand.  To many of them magic is a scary thing because they don't understand it.  Don't worry, we wont let them take you out of school if you don't want them to?"

            Hermione sniffed.  "Really?"  She asked hopefully.

            "Really."  Stated all three women firmly.

**********************************

            Back in the great hall five students and three professors were having a bit of a crisis conference.  

            As soon as Lily, Jen and Abbi had left after Hermione, Sirius, Remus and James had dashed over to the remaining Phoenixers at their table.

            "What's up with 'mione?"  Sirius asked "Why'd she run out like that?"

            "Dunno."  Answered Ron.  "I've never seen her like that before, it must be something bad."

            "The last time I saw anyone leave the great hall like that," began Remus, "Was back in our fifth year when Lil's……"  He trailed off, realising the perfect plausibility in the idea that the circumstances were the same.

            "You don't think…."  Said James, "That Hermione's parents could be trying the same thing do you?  Surely they wouldn't?!"  
  


            "What wouldn't they do dad?" asked Harry.  "What do you think is wrong?"

            "It doesn't matter what we think Harry."  Replied Sirius.  "Just hope that we're wrong."

            "About what?"  Asked Ron, "It can't be that awful."  Having thought about that sentence he continued, "Yes it can, after all, it upset her enough to make her leave the great hall, crying at that."  Then in a quieter voice he added, "What's wrong, what's upset 'Mione so much, I've never seen her cry before." 

            The three men looked at each other, having a conversation between themselves in a silent exchange which obviously stemmed from the closeness of their friendship.  Eventually Sirius answered.

            "Alright.  When you've finished your breakfast we'll see you in the DADA classroom, then we'll explain, ok?"

            There was a chorus of ok's from the assembled group before the three men rose and left the hall.  After their realisation, they really had lost their appetite.

**********************************

            10 minutes later t was a sombre group of people that were to be found sat around a table in the DADA class room.

            "So what you're saying,"  summarised Harry, "Is that you think that Mione's parents are trying to take her out of hogwarts.  And that mum's parents did exactly the same thing when she was at school."

            "Basically yes."  Replied Remus.  "We might be wrong though, don't count on us being right.  Just because Lil's parents did it to her doesn't mean that that's what Hermione's parents are doing.  It could be something completely different."

            The five students sat in silence for a while, digesting the information they had just been given.  Eventually Ron decided to break the silence.

            "I'm going to go and look for her, I want to see if she's alright.  I'll see you soon."  With that he got up and left in search of his girlfriend.

*********************************

            Once they had Hermione calmed down Lily, Jen and Abbi had all left her alone for a while and gone to find Dumbledore.  They had found him sat in his office poring over a letter.

            "Hermione's parents?"  Abbi asked.

  
            Dumbledore nodded his head.  "Yes.  I'm guessing she told you about what they want to do."

  
            Jen nodded her head.  "What are we going to do Albus?  The poor girl is devastated."

            Dumbledore looked at Lily.  "Do you remember how we convinced your parents?"  he asked her.

  
            Lily nodded thoughtfully.  "We had a meeting, they sat in on some classes, then, when that wasn't looking very hopeful, I threw the final card down and told them that I'd leave home if they wouldn't let me stay."

            Dumbledore smiled slightly.  "I always wondered what you said to make them so upset."  Lily blushed slightly and Dumbledore continued.  "However, what you may not have been aware of is that after all that I had a meeting with your parents.  At that meeting I simply explained to them that with the threat of Voldemort rising you would be far safer at school where we could teach you to defend yourself and protect you if the need arose.  It seemed to do the trick, and they thanked me for it later on."

            Lily smiled.  "So we do the same thing for Hermione then?"  She asked.

            "I believe that would be a good start, yes."  Dumbledore replied.  "I'll write a letter to them issuing them with an invitation to come and visit the school."

            With that said Dumbledore turned back to what he was doing and Lily Jen and Abbi left the office in search of the others ready to start the day's lessons.

*********************************

            Ron and Hermione sat on Hermione's bed contemplating what was happening.  When Ron had found his girlfriend she had been blotchy eyed from crying and he had immediately pulled her into a hug.  20 minutes later after many more tears from each of them they were sat together in silence, neither sure what to say to the other.

            Finally Ron broke the silence, "It'll all be ok you know."  He said, more to convince himself than Hermione, "Dumbledore wont let them take you away from here."

            Hermione smiled weakly at him, "I know, that's just what Jen, Abbi and Lily said, it's just that my parents don't give up easily, if they want to do something then they'll do it, whatever it takes."

            "Not this time." Said Ron, determination evident in his voice, "I'll make sure of it."

*********************************

            15 minutes later found the group sat together around the table in their library having their first history of magic lesson of the year.  

            "Wizarding relations with the Muggle world"  said Lily to start the lesson.  She was met by a predictable round of groans and a head banging on the table from Hermione.

            "We know it's boring.  The whole subject is useless and you are never likely to need to know this."  Said James, "But Dumbledore says we have to teach it to you, sorry."

            A long lecture then ensued.  None of the five who had previously attended Hogwarts believed it possible for the subject to be more boring than professor Binns had made it but it soon became apparent that that was in fact wholly possible and indeed this lesson they had been wishing they were sat in Binns' ice cold classroom with everyone else.

            As the lesson drew to a close Harry looked at his parents.

            "You know I love you."  He stated his voice full of seriousness.  "But I have some advice fore you.  NEVER become history of magic teacher's full time!"  

            At that the group all burst into fits of laughter whilst James and Lily did their best to look indignant.

*********************************

            The rest of the day passed without incident.  They all greatly enjoyed their new lessons, even Ron found himself looking forward to the rest of the lessons that people had planned for them and all of them willingly sat together doing their homework that evening.

After dinner Dumbledore met with Hermione and informed her of his plans concerning her parents.  At first, having heard the plan Hermione was sceptical however once she had heard how it worked for Lily on her parents she was feeling more optimistic and agreed to let Dumbledore try it.       

            The letter was written and sent.  The plan was that professor McGonagall was to collect Hermione's parents the following Monday morning and bring them via portkey to Hogwarts where they could spend a week watching the school environment and then make a final decision about Hermione's schooling.

            The plan seemed fool-proof.  Everyone expected it to go without a hitch and for Hermione to be allowed to stay at Hogwarts for definite.  The truth of the matter though, as they were about to discover, could not have been more different if it had been the exact opposite.

*********************************

A/N:  Finally!!!  I'm so sorry that took me so long but I got to a certain point and then just had a total block.  I went ages without being able to think what to write next and then when I finally knew what to write I couldn't get near my computer for 3 weeks!  Sorry if the end of that chapter seemed a little rushed or abrupt.  I didn't want to go into details on every lesson because it would have taken me forever so I just skipped a little.  

* * *

[YUN1]


	18. Announcement Sorry!

**Author Announcement:**

        First let me say that I am so sorry about the irregularity of my updates recently.  I had important exams recently and I was so bogged down with revision and stuff that I didn't have tome to write much.

  
        That brings me to my next point.  Basically I failed one of my subjects last year and cam very near to failing a second.  Admittedly those marks came hand in hand with 2 As but people aren't seeing it that way.  I really need to work hard over the next few months.   I'm re-sitting those subjects as well as doing this years exams and my Uni entry relies on these grades so for the next few months I'm shifting my focus onto my school work.  

I won't stop updating all together however for a while updates may be rather erratic.  Sometimes when I have less work they may come out quickly, others there may be big gaps without them.  I will do all I can not to stop writing any of my stories all together and hopefully this hasn't upset anyone too much.

        My Progressions of Life fic is getting taken down so that I can completely re-work it and make it into a few separate fics as soon as I get myself sorted.  It will stay up for now though  

        Please bear with me and hopefully things will settle down around Christmas.  I'll keep you posted

  
Katie-Catherine

      -x-x-


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